1996 Vieilles Vignes  Domaine de la Perrière

Tasting of some 2010 Loires at the RSJ Restaurant (Waterloo, London) on Monday evening

For me one of the stars was the 1996 Chinon Vieilles Vignes from Christophe Baudry’s Domaine de la Perrière. Obviously not a 2010 wine but one we put in at the end of the tasting to show how the 2010s may evolve. Although a number of 1996s, such as Le Grand Clos and Vieilles Vignes from Château Villeneuve as well as the 1996 Bourgueil served at Vins et Livres, are still on very good form, I hadn’t tasted the 1996 VV Perrière for some time, so wondered how it would show.

The Baudry Vieilles Vignes comes from the gravel vineyards close to the River Vienne. In general the wines from the limestone Coteaux are longer lived. I shouldn’t have been concerned as this 1996 had complex and attractive aromas of evolved fruit and seductively soft, supple fruit texture. I doubt if it will get any better but it is likely to continue in this vein for certainly at least another three or four years.   

 

We opened two bottles of the 1996. There was a slight difference between the two with one being rounder and the other showing a little more acidity. Sometimes bottle variation can be very significant with wines of this age.  

List of 2010’s tasted:

Aperitif:

Sauvignon VDP du Val de Loire, Domaine de Bablut

Whites: 

Touraine Sauvignon, Clos Roussely, Vincent Roussely

Quincy, Domaine des Ballandors, Jean Tatin and Chantal Wilk

Chenin Blanc, Château de la Roulerie, Philippe Germain

3 Coteaux, Chinon Blanc, Baudry-Dutour

Reds:

Anjou Rouge, Château de la Roulerie, Philippe Germain

Clos de la Bienboire, Château de Villeneuve, Jean-Pierre Chevallier

Saumur Champigny, Domaine des Roches Neuves, Thierry Germain

1996 Vieilles Vignes, Chinon, Domaine de la Perrière

Comments on the 2010s to follow

Christophe Baudry: Baudry-Dutour and Maire of Cravant-les-Coteaux

Following our morning in Saumur we headed to AC Chinon and to Panzoult for a tasting at the Baudry-Dutour winery. Given that they are now the largest invididual producer in Chinon with some 120 hectares, the standard at Baudry-Dutour is impressively high across their range. 

From the easy drinking red cuvées Domaine de la Perrière has more interest and concentration in 2010 than the leaner Domaine de la Roncée. It was the other way round in 2009. Christophe Baudry explained that due to a spring frost Perrières' yield was some 36-38 hl/ha compared to 45-47 hl/ha for Roncée. Both of these 2010s are in bottle. The mid-weight 2009 Perrières Vieilles Vignes has a smoky character, an attractively soft texture and can be enjoyed now, while Clos des Maronniers is more closed and needs a little time. 

The 2009 Château de la Grille was next up. This is the first Baudry-Dutour vintage from this previously underwhelming and expensive property. The 2009 is certainly an improvement on previous vintages with a good concentration of red and black fruits. Although the tannins are better handled there is a still a bite of tannin in the finish. However, there will be time for this to soften as it won't be on the market until the end of 2012. The fine 2008 Château Saint-Louans was the last red. Now on sale it has a good  balance of structure and fruit.

Jean-Martin Dutour: Président of Interloire   

Following the tasting we paid a quick visit with Jean-Martin to Château de la Grille, which is on the outskirts of Chinon just to the north of the main road that by-passes the town. They have recently pulled down part of the old chai and are putting up a new visitor centre. The château is now empty and will need extensive renovation.

Postscript:
The plan is to keep the existing special bulbous and heavy La Grille bottle. I think this is probably a mistake as I don't think Château de la Grille has a very good reputation (see comments). Better to start afresh with a new bottle and design to show that there really has been regime change at La Grille.  

Area where the chai was demolished

 

Visitor centre

The President on the phone

Visit to Jérôme Billard (Domaine de la Noblaie) will be an additional post.

This is an impressive and ambitious Chinon from the 2007 vintage, which is generally light with the fruit rarely ripe enough to make a weighty and concentrated wine without extracting green tannins. This Château de Saint-Louand, which comes from Baudry-Dutour's small property in Saint-Louand – a western suburb of Chinon. Aged in oak it still has considerable oak spice; it is drinking well now but would probably benefit from another year to let the wood and the oak marry more completely.  

Oddbins – going the same way as Unwins and Threshers?

Details of the Oddbins Voluntary Creditors Arrangement are on the Deloitte site. Details of the proposals, list of creditors, proposed payment schedule here.

From the long list of creditors I've so far spotted four companies from the Loire who are owed money. Two of them in for small sums – Domaine de la Foliette in Muscadet Sèvre et Maine (£1502) and Baudry-Dutour in Chinon (£1929). Négociants Bougrier based in Saint-Georges-sur-Cher and Saint-Romain are owed rather more – £27,439. The biggest Loire loser, however, appears to be Fournier Père et Fils in Verdigny (Sancerre) who have £85,526 outstanding.

Outside the Loire and in addition to the leading creditors mentioned yesterday, the following names have a substantial exposure: Viña Carta Vieja (Chile) (£278,661), Pol Roger (£273,611), Mentzendorff (£194,372), Negociants International (£90,153), Laurent Perrier (£82,000), and Bodegas Palacio (£78,507). Nicolas UK, which is part of Castel – the previous owners of Oddbins – are owed £34, 665. With Concha y Toro owed £241,583 and Viña Carta Vieja (£278,661), there are two Chilean producers owed a total £520,244. In comparison Stockport Sunday School appears to have got of lightly with just £6.44 outstanding.

1990 Clos de l'Echo

 

Last night at the RSJ Restaurant there was a dinner and tasting of Chinons stretching from 2009 back to 1990.

Aperitif

2009 Sauvignon Blanc Domaine de Bablut, Vin de Pays 

Tighter, more mineral and refreshing but less opulent and exotic than it was last year.  

2009 Domaine de la Perrière, Baudry-Dutour
This is Baudry-Dutour's easy drinking cuvée from gravel vineyards close to the Vienne. Attractive red fruits with refreshing acidity.   

 

2009 Chinon Beaumont, Catherine and Pierre Breton

From vineyards on the undulating clay and limestone slopes around Beaumont-en-Vèron. This had considerably more weight than the Perrière – partly due to the different terroir but also from doubtless lower yields. With black fruits and spice, soft tannin, the Beaumont is drinking well now but can be kept for a good five years. I have been critical of some of the Breton wines but this 2009 was showing well.   

These two wines were served with a balontine of foie gras & confit of duck with fruit chutney.

Then onto two vintages of Baudry-Dutour's Vieilles Vignes
2006 Vieilles Vignes Domaine de la Perrière, Baudry-Dutour

2002 Vieilles Vignes Domaine de la Perrière, Christophe and Jean Baudry

These, which come from gravel vineyards, showed the importance of vintage in the Loire. The 2006 being fuller and richer with plum and liquorice flavours reflecting the good summer of 2006, which was potentially a very good vintage until the rain and the onset of rot at vintage time meant that the grapes had to be hurriedly gathered in. However, there are some very good 2006s, if not quite at the level of 2005. 

2002 was one of those Loire years when September and October saved the vintage after a poor summer. Sunshine and an easterly wind allowed the grapes to ripe and the drying conditions concentrated the grape juice. Less concentrated than 2006 and more in the red fruit spectrum with more present acidity. Like many 2002s it has lovely balance.

Both cuvées are aged in barrique. The 2002 was made before the creation of Baudry-Dutour in 2003.

1999 Coteau de Noire

Next up two wines from Philippe and Claude Alliet. Philippe is a cousin of Christophe Baudry and he set up his domaine in 1985 and is widely acknowledged as one of the top Chinon producers.

1995 Vieilles Vignes

1999 Coteau de Noire, Philippe Alliet

1995 Vieilles Vignes, Philippe Alliet 

The Alliets acquired the Coteau de Noire in the early 1990s. On the steep limestone coteau a little to the east of the town of Chinon, the 1999 comes from vines of less than 10 years old and is all the more impressive for this. Elegant concentration, structure and length, this is another example of how well the rather unregarded 1999 vintage is now showing.

Without food the 1995 Vieilles Vignes (from vines on gravel) shows some of the angularity that has been typical of this vintage with present tannins and acidity. With food the sweet, evolved fruit comes through.  

1990 Clos de L'Echo, Couly-Dutheil (in magnum)

When this was first opened we were rather concerned that this might be past it, initially light and quite bricky in colour this developed in glass with attractive and charming sweet fruit with a touch of rather grainy tannins. Given that the storage conditions for these two magnums of Clos de l'Echo had not been the best, they were showing pretty well. Doubtless any examples of the 1990 stored at Couly-Dutheil's cellars in Chinon would be more youthful. 

Served with braised veal, mashed potatoes, carrots, spinach, red wine jus.

B-D's Chinon Blanc is closed with a screwcap

2009 Chinon Blanc Baudry-Dutour

We created some controversey at the end of the evening by deciding to serve this with the cheese – a Brie de Meaux. Tasted blind few people I fancy would pick this out as Chenin Blanc – many would opt for Sauvignon Blanc with its zippy, grassy, citric fruit although in the finish it does have that characteristic touch of bitterness typical of many Chenins.

Along with a number of the assembled company I thought it went well with the cheese bringing out the wine's fruit, while others thought that it didn't work at all and were rather aghast at the idea of serving white wine with cheese.

2009 Chinon, Domaine de la Perrière, Baudry-Dutour

Over the past two days we have revisited a couple of 2009s from Chinon and Bourgueil respectively. I had previously tasted these wines – Domaine de la Perrière, Baudry-Dutour and Le Haut de la Butte in December. Both appear to have taken on a little more weight since December, especially the Perrière, although the accent here is still very much on red fruits with quite marked refreshing acidity in the finish.   

The 2009 Le Haut de la Butte remains considerably more softly opulent and concentrated than the Perrière as one would expect given that Le Haut is quite a bit more expensive than B-D's Perrière. 

These two wines indicate that the tough period some of the 2009s went through in mid-late January is now over and the normal charm of the 2009 reds has returned.

Jean-Martin Dutour

While tasting at Baudry-Dutour I asked Jean-Martin Dutour whether there had been any communication with the producers of Bourgueil since his recent election to president of InterLoire. Bourgueil has recently left Interloire to go their own way. There hasn't been any contact and I rather gather that the feeling is that Bourgueil is being left to discover how feasible, in particular the level of what additional costs there are, it is to promote themselves without the aid of a body like InterLoire, covering the region from Nantes to eastern Touraine.

We discussed in some detail the tricky question du jour – who has precedence: Jean Martin Dutour as president of InterLoire or his business partner Christophe Baudry, maire of Cravant-les-Coteaux since March 2008. Initially Jean-Martin thought it was Christophe as he was chosen by the electors (some 300-400) of Cravant. However, Sylvine Teston, the export director, pointed out that Jean-Martin had been elected by some 1400 producers. Clearly further reflection is required before a ruling can be made on this tricky question of etiquette. In the meantime I will have to decide who to greet first when I see them at the Salon des Vins de Loire.

Baudy-Dutour's screwcapped Chinon Blanc

We also discussed the advantages of using screwcaps on both aromatic whites, typified by Sauvignon Blanc, and less aromatic but often delicate whites such as Muscadet or Chenin Blanc. Baudry-Dutour screwcap their stainless steel fermented Chinon Blanc for export markets but use a cork for France because French sommeliers continue to oppose screwcaps. Jean-Martin is convinced that screwcaps are the best closure for this type of white. It appears that the sommeliers oppose screwcaps because it does away with the ceremony involved in wielding a corkscrew when opening a bottle and that once this is done away with their role will appear redundant.

Of course any sommelier who thinks that their only role is to remove the cork from a bottle is a complete waste of space. The real and most useful role of a sommelier isto offer advice to their customers to help them choose a wine that they will enjoy, that will match/complement the food they are having and is at a price they can afford.

Jean-Martin says that once they explain to their private customers the benefits of screwcapping wines, they have no problem buying wines closed with screwcaps. If this is the way a large number of Loire producers think, then it is long time for them to stand up and have the balls make a statement just as the Riesling producers of Clare did in 2000 and the New Zealanders did the following year. Get together, bottle your wines under screwcap, explain to the media why you are doing this and I fancy the sommeliers' opposition will melt away. But it has to be a concerted effort.

Something for the new president of InterLoire to add to his agenda?

PS: See also a post by my fellow Cinq du Vin, Hervé Lalau here. 

After the truffle market it was off to Panzoult and Baudry-Dutour to taste 2010s with Jean-Martin Dutour and Sylvine Teston, their export-director. Pity it was such a miserable wet day as the drive would have been very interesting through attractive countryside and passing by Luzé, the site of the Abbaye Royale de Bois-Aubry. Clearly we will have to return on a better day and when we don't have a tight schedule.

Sylvine Teston and Christophe Baudry

At Baudry-Dutour we started by tasting some of their range of 2010s from tank. Mid-weight Domaine de la Roncée has soft, blackberry fruit and will be bottled early – a wine to enjoy the young fruit rather than analyse. Naturally Roncée's Clos des Marronniers has more concentration and depth. The 2010 Château de Saint Louans, just to the west of the town of Chinon, is very concentrated and looks promising, although it will not be released until 2012 after an élévage in barrel. I didn't taste the 2010 Les Perrières and the Château de la Grille as these wines are made at the respective properties.

Jean-Martin thinks that at the top end the 2010 reds may well be better than the 2009s because yields were down by 20% in 2010 – 40 hl/ha compared to 50 hl/ha the previous year.

I also tasted the opulent and powerful 2010 Chinon Blanc from Saint-Louans in new barriques. Although 15.7% alcohol and completely dry, the wine is well balanced. Will be interesting to taste the finished wine. The well balanced 2009 Saint-Louans (15€), which is now in bottle, has a touch of spicy wood with rich fruit. Bottled on 10th December this really needs another six months to a year for the barrel spice and the wine to harmonise.

We then tasted some 2009s bottled reds starting with the easy drinking Domaine de la Perrières (5.50€) with its juicy, red fruit flavours. The delicious 2009 Domaine de la Roncée (6-7€) has some more concentration, structure and is attractively round. We tried it last night with a turkey and ham pie (the season of left-overs!), which worked well, and then the remmants with a little foie gras – surprisingly good – and some paté en croute. Certainly as they are showing at the moment the additional euro or so for the Roncée is well worth it.

Jean-Martin Dutour in front of the Baudry-Dutour winery@Panzoult

42-year-old Jean-Martin Dutour (Baudry-Dutour) was elected the new president of Inter-Loire yesterday for a three year term at the organisation's AGM. Jean-Martin takes over from Patrice Laurendeau (Anjou). Jean-Martin is taking on a tough job as relations between the Loire négoce and the producers continue to be very poor. Last year the producers of Bourgueil signalled their determination to leave Interloire, the promotional body for producers in the Pays Nantais, Anjou-Saumur and Touraine.

With 120 hectares Baudry-Dutour is the largest individual producer in Chinon and is both a grower and a négociant. Jean-Martin will need considerable diplomatic skills if progress is to be made before Interloire's next general assembly in June 2011.
 

Christophe Baudry with proof that he is the maire of Cravant-les-Coteaux

Should he need advice Jean-Martin is fortunate that he has ready access to the Maire of Cravant-les-Coteaux – his business partner, Christophe Baudry. 

Already there is speculation that one of them may be a candidate for the 2017 French Presidential elections.  

See also article in today's La Nouvelle République.

 

I have recently received my review copy of Inside Burgundy by Jasper Morris MW (£50 inc delivery). This is the first volume in a new publishing project by Berry Bros & Rudd. Although a little disappointed that it is not called the Sex Lives of the Burgundians as originally titled by Jasper, it is clear even on a brief perusal that this J'espére Maurice as he is known in Bué, near Sancerre, has a deep knowledge and love for the region and its wines. Hardback with 656 pages and detailed maps.

••

Winery@Baudry-Dutour

Message about Baudry-Dutour's revamped website:

Depuis  quelques mois nous consacrons tous nos loisirs à la rénovation en profondeur de notre site Internet.

Cela n’a l’air de rien, mais demande un travail titanesque. Aussi nous sommes fiers de vous présenter notre travail : www.baudry-dutour.fr <http://www.baudry-dutour.fr> . En particulier nous vous conseillons le visionnage des petites vidéos de présentation de chacune de nos propriétés.

Lors de votre « navigation », si vous rencontrez un problème, n’hésitez pas à nous en faire part. Nous pourrons peut-être y remédier avant que la horde des curieux ne s’engouffre.

Nous attendons avec impatience vos commentaires : info@baudry-dutour.fr.

 

 

Main street in the pretty little village of Crissay-sur-Manse

 'Le chinon vaut le détour pour les sommeliers coréens

C'était une première. Cinq grands sommeliers coréens ont dégusté les crus de Joguet, Baudry-Dutour et Alliet à Crissay-sur-Manse. Une belle découverte.'

Report in today's La Nouvelle République. Read the rest here.

 

 

 

River Indre in Loches passing the George Sand hotel and restaurant

 A message received yesterday:

'Dear Jim,

I just stumbled across your blog about loire valley wines. My family and I will be traveling to Loire soon. Specifically, we are staying near Loches for a week. We love our wine but are by no means experts. I was wondering if you might give me some suggestions of wineries not to be missed. With so many options I am a bit overwhelmed. Any info you could pass on would be of great help however, please do not feel obligated to respond. I know you must get lots of questions like this. Thank you so much.'

**

Loches is a little way out from the Loire's main wine producing areas. For instance both Vouvray and Chinon are about an hour's drive away with Montlouis slightly closer at around 50 minutes. Closer are the two main producers of Touraine Noble Joué – Jean-Jacques Sard and Rousseau Frères in Esvres about half an hour away from Loches in the direction of Tours. Noble Joué is a little known but long established rosé made from three Pinots – Noir, Meunier and Gris. Of the two Rousseau is the larger concern with nearly 20 hectares of vines offering a range of other wines as well as Noble Joué. 

Also around 30 minutes away from Loches are the producers in the Cher Valley. People to visit would include Jean-François Mériau (Vignobles des Bois Vaudons) in Saint-Julien-de-Chédon and Vincent Ricard in Thésée.  

Going further afield then Jacky Blot's Domaine de la Taille aux Loups in Husseau (Montlouis) where you can buy his Vouvray and Bourgueil as well as Montlouis is certainly recommended as is the François Chidaine's La Cave Insolite in Montlouis. 

Across the river in Vouvray my choices include Domaine Huet, Champalou, Foreau, Bernard Fouquet (Domaine des Aubuisières) and Alexandre Monmousseau's Château Gaudrelle, whose tasting room and winery in now at the western end of Rochecorbon. 

If you decide to go to Chinon my choices would include Baudry-Dutour (tasting room in Cravant-les-Coteaux), Charles Joguet (Sazilly), Domaine de Noblaie (Jérôme Billard in Ligré) and Château de Coulaine (Etienne and Pascale Bonnaventure in Beaumont-en-Véron).

There are many other possibilities and much depends upon how far you want to drive and how many places you wish to visit. Mentioning them all would make for a very long post! 

2008 Chinon, Domaine de la Roncée, Baudry-Dutour

On Tuesday night we arrived in Inverness after an eight hour train ride up from London. Fancying a glass or so of red wine I rushed out around 8.30pm expecting to have no problem finding an off-Licence that was open in the centre of town. Sadly with absolutely no success – Oddbins closed at 7pm and Morrisons at 8pm. Had I been prepared to walk at lot further I would have found a couple of Tesco stores open. Instead it was a question of having a dram. No wonder Tesco continues to gain market share!

The following day I dropped into Oddbins and picked up the 2008 Chinon, Domaine de la Roncée , Baudry-Dutour (£11.99) – the first time I have tasted this 2008 Chinon since it was bottled. Medium weight this 2008 is drinking well now with attractively bright, red fruits and some length. It can also be kept for at least another two or three years. Oddbins appear to be the only UK company stocking this wine as there is no UK entry on wine-searcher for it.

Report on Baudry-Dutour based on visit in March 2009.

Christophe Baudry of Domaine de la Perrière, Cravant-les-Coteaux AC Chinon released his first vintage of Grand Vin in 1998 – not the easiest of vintages to start with, although the 1998 Grand Vin was a success for the vintage. With the tie up with Jean-Martin Dutour at Domaine de la Roncée to form Baudry-Dutour, this cuvée was dropped along with its white equivalent, Confidentielle.

Christophe's Grand Vin came from vines over 50 years old with malolactic in barrel and at least 12 months barrel aging. The 2001, a good rather than great wine, is currently drinking well and may well be around its best now as I not convinced it will get better, although nor do I think it is about to immediately fall off its perch. Mid weight and well balanced fruit and acidity, it worked very well with an excellent pheasant bought from Northfield Farm's stall in Borough Market, London. Northfield Farm has long been excellent and was amongst the earliest stalls at Borough Market but I don't remember them doing game before. I fancy this is the influence of the arrival of Bob, a great game specialist who previously used to be with Wyndhams the poultry shop on the edge of the market opposite the Brindisa tapas bar. But Wyndhams closed at the beginning of this year. Bob had previously worked for Allens.

I recently tasted two 2005 Chinons – one from Fabrice Gasnier and the other from Baudry-Dutour – partly to see how the 2005s are developing.

2005 Cuvée Vieilles Vignes, Chinon, Fabrice Gasnier

2005 Cuvée Vieilles Vignes, Chinon, Fabrice Gasnier
I'm afraid this was a disappointment – I had been looking forward to trying this sample from The Real Wine Company. I've never visited Fabrice Gasnier but have heard of him and thought his wine would be interesting to try, especially a 2005 Vieilles Vignes (£9.99). Possibly the bottle may have been faulty, although it wasn't corked, but the wine wasn't clean – instead rather rustic and confected. The estate is currently in conversion to biodynamic viticulture – I need to try a range of their wines soon.

2005 Clos des Maronniers, Domaine de la Roncée, Baudry-Dutour

This was altogether much more what I expect from a 2005 Chinon – powerfully structured , rich black fruits still with a strong tannic presence. Like many 2005s this really needs more time – at ;east another two or three years. 50% of Clos des Maronniers is aged for 12 months in barriques (aged between 5 and 15 years) with the other half in vat.

Baudry-Dutour, La Morandière, 37220 Panzoult
Tel: 02.47.58.53.01 email: info@baudry-dutour,fr
Web: www.baudry-dutour.fr

Fabrice Gasnier, Chezelet, 37500 Cravant-les-Coteaux
Tel: 02.47.93.11.60; email: fabricegasnier
Web: www.vignoblegasnier.com

17th June 2009

Eleven to dinner on Wednesday night, so several wines consumed in moderation with the highlight being a bottle of 1994 MD (Monts Damnés), Sancerre from Henri Bourgeois, which was showing very well with evolved notes of white truffle and delicate asparagus but still very fresh in the finish. Could be kept easily another five years. Interesting that 1994 was a difficult vintage – very humid September with a lot of rot. Served with cheese course.

Started with 2002 Saumur Blanc (some honey but quite austere and mineral) from Château de Villeneuve. Then the bright red fruited 2007 Domaine de la Roncée, Clos des Marronniers – delicious drinking now.

2007 Clos des Maronniers, Domaine de la Roncée, Baudry-Dutheil

2000 Côt Clos Roche Blanche

The 2000 Côt (AC Touraine) from Clos Roche Blanche is also showing very well at the moment – still quite youthful with animal and spice notes and good length. An illustration that well made Côt is the best red grape in this part of the Cher Valley and that if the proposed new AC of Touraine-Chenonceaux is to mean anything and be credible for reds wines it should include 100% Côt wines.

2005 L'Anclaie, Coteaux du Layon Beaulieu, Château Pierre-Bise

Our meal concluded with the rich, quite deep coloured 2005 L'Anclaie from Claude and Joëlle Papin (Château Pierre-Bise). L'Anclaie with its palette of citric fruits, especially orange peel is always one of my favourite sweet wines from the Papin range. Delicious at the moment but almost infanticide!

9th edition of the Festival Chinon en jazz

Chinon: the Vienne, the town and the recently restored château

Over this weekend from 9pm this evening there are a series of free jazz concerts around Chinon. This includes a concert at 11.30 am tomorrow at Le Clos des Capucins, now part of the Baudry-Dutour estate. Details here.

Clos des Capucins

/www.petitfaucheux.fr/home/

Sunday 12th April 2009

From Montrichard there is an attractive footpath along the north bank of the Cher in both directions either towards Chenonceaux or towards Thésée. On a sunny afternoon we chose to walk along to Bourré and back.

Troglogyte houses between Montrichard and Bourré

More troglogyte houses

Poplars trees by the river

Canoeist on the Cher

Blue boat and looking upsteam

More troglogyte houses

Monmousseau sparkling wine facilities@Montrichard

•••

Report on visit to leading Chinon producer Baudry-Dutour in late March now complete.

My Cabernet Franc gently weeps.....

26th March 2009

We stopped briefly at the entrance of Baudry-Dutour in Panzoult to have a look at the vines. It is always interesting to see what a difference going 70 kilometres west in the Loire Valley makes at this time of year. Here in eastern Touraine there seems virtually no sign of life in the vines, while in Chinon the buds are beginning to swell and some of the vines are ‘crying’ – the sap rising. An absolutely clear demonstration of why eastern Touraine is at the eastern limit of being able to successfully grow Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc.

Baudry-Dutour winery@Panzoult

Some of my wine writing friends claim that the Loire is complicated – so many appellations! Actually there are around 70 about the same number as in the Côte d’Or, although there you only have two main grape varieties. If you start the Loire appellations the region may seem complicated. However, the key to understanding the Loire is through the change in climate from west to east and how that affects what varieties you can successfully plant. So climate and grape varieties are the key to the Loire. But that will have to be the subject of a future posting, as I must get back to my visit with Christophe Baudry to Baudry-Dutour’s recent acquisitions.

First a little history. The Baudry family has owned the Domaine de la Perrière in Cravant-les-Coteaux since 1398. Christophe is latest generation of the Baudrys to run the estate. His father Jean, the elder brother of Bernard Baudry, has now retired and with his wife looks after their chambres d’hôtes business. In 2003 Christophe Baudry joined with Domaine de la Roncée in Panzoult run by Jean-Martin Dutour. – hence Baudry-Dutour. The industrialist Bernard Tardi bought Domaine de la Roncée in 1992 from the Donnabella family. Tardi had made his fortune with a petrol distribution business, which he sold in 1979.

Not being in the wine producing business Tardi looked around for someone to run Domaine de la Roncée. Initially he chose Paul Filliatreau (Saumur-Champigny) to oversee operations. However this was not a success and the arrangement only lasted a few months. For a brief period after that one of the Donnabellas helped out until in September 1993 Tardi hired the young Jean-Martin Dutour, who had only recently completed his studies into agronomy and oenology at Montpellier. Jean-Martin is originally from around Bar-le-Duc. Appointing the young and then inexperienced Jean-Martin must have been a considerable gamble on Tardi’s part. However it is clearly a gamble that has paid off.

Although Christophe is a good winemaker he is stronger at the commercial side than Jean-Martin, whose strength is in winemaking rather than the commercial aspects. Thus it made sense to combine forces. Since then Baudry-Dutour has made several new acquisitions: the vineyard of Château Saint-Louans, the Clos des Capucins and most recently Château de la Grille. This brings them up to 120 hectares.

Château de la Grille

Close up of Château de la Grille

Our first visit was to Château de la Grille, which is just to the north of Chinon. On the way from Panzoult to la Grille, Christophe explained that since last year’s elections he was now Maire of Cravant-les-Coteaux. Apparently the Maire of Cravant is always a vigneron and it was Christophe’s turn. Initially he was reluctant but a delegation persuaded him to stand, so I was spending the morning with un grand fromage (big cheese)!

Topiary in the grounds of Château de la Grille – may explain why La Grille has always had a rather poncy bottle

I have never been impressed with Château de la Grille’s Chinon finding lacking fruit and with dry tannins in the finish, so this was my first visit to the property. There are 26 hectares of vines. 13 hectares around the château on quite flat ground (argile-calcaire) and another 13 hectares nearby on a small dome by the main road that skirts `Chinon. The estate is entirely planted with Cabernet Franc. I fancy that the domed part is the better terroir.

The flatter vineyard close to the château

Several reasons for La Grille’s poor showing soon became apparent. Only one cuvée is made and some of the barriques used to age the wine are 10-12 years old. Christophe explained that the old barrels will go and that in future La Grill will be aged in barriques of 1-3 wines. Only the better wine will go into La Grille. That considered not to be good enough will be sold under another label or sold to the négoce. The vineyard will be grassed over with the height of the vines raised to produce more leaves and so more photosynthesis.

La Grille’s wines are made by Jean-Max Manceau, who has worked here for 28 years and who also has his own Chinon domaine – Domaine de Noire. He is also president of the Chinon producers' syndicat. Jean-Max will continue to look after the winemaking here.

Obama often seeks the Maire's advice!

We had a short vertical of La Grille starting with the 2006 bottled in September 2008w and which had soft, ripe fruit but with slightly dry tannins in the finish. The 2004 had some attractive fruit with some weight but again with the characteristic drying finish. The 2005 showed well with a good concentration of black fruits sufficient to round out the tannins. We finished with a 2003 that had matured in new barrels for 30 months and, although quite toasty, it had rich concentrated fruit without the drying tannins. This rather confirms that the use of old barriques has done the La Grille wines little favours.

With Christophe and Jean-Max I briefly discussed the on-going Couly-Dutheil conflict and we agreed that leaving aside the distress this battle was causing the Couly family it was also bad for the Chinon appellation as they needed to have several strong, large producers.

Christophe Baudry in the vines@Château Saint-Louans

Domed vineyard of Château Saint-Louans looking towards outskirts of Chinon

Then Christophe and I headed off to the vineyard of Château Saint-Louans. Saint-Louans is now a suburb of Chinon – just to the west of the town, overlooking the Vienne. Christophe described this 6-hectare plot as Chinon’s best terroir. Jean-Martin Dutour later qualified this – saying that in average to difficult years this was the best. However in very good to great years, there are other sites in Chinon that perform better. It is clay and limestone here and Cabernet Franc vines are between 25 and 35 years old. 2007 was the first vintage here for Baudry-Dutour. Apparently there was considerable competition to buy this vineyard with other candidates including Bernard Baudry and Domaine Charles Joguet.

The small clos of Chenin Blanc

The lower part of the Clos overlooks La Vienne

Just overlooking the Vienne is a small parcel – Haut-Bois is the lieu-dit, although it is not used on the label – of Chenin Blanc, which is also part of Château Saint-Louans. I checked with Christophe how many hectares of Chenin are now planted in the appellation. “There are 36/37 hectares planted and a stop has been put on further planting. Chenin on works on the coteaux (argile-calcaire) and people were wanting to be able to plant it on the gravels of the valley, which would not have been suitable.”

Clos des Capucins – looking east towards Chinon old town and château

Clos des Capucins + house

Replacing the wiring etc.

From there Christophe and I moved onto the Clos des Capucins – a little west of the Château de Chinon and overlooking the Clos des Hospices, which was replanted last year by Rodolphe Raffault. The three hectare Clos des Capucins, which has a magnificent position close to the Vienne and the Château, has 1.70 ha of vines that are now being renewed by Baudry-Dutour. Christophe told me that the vineyard used to looked after by Jean-Maurice Raffault, a well known producer of Chinon in Savigny-en-Véron. However, when the previous owner came to sell Raffault did not want to buy the Clos. Instead Rodolphe Raffault is now looking after the recently replanted Clos de l’Hospice, which is adjacent to and overlooked by the Clos des Capucins.

Old vine@Le Clos des Capucins

Recently replanted Clos de l'Hospice

View across Vienne towards Clos des Capucins and the Clos de l'Hospices

The work on the vines of the Clos des Capucins is almost entirely done by hand and the Clos vineyard will be farmed organically. “We will also be renovating the house and offering chambres d’hôtes as well as a place to taste and eat – like a wine bar – and be able to buy wine."

Le Moulin Girault

From the Clos des Capucins we headed back to Domaine de la Roncée to taste the recent vintages but made a quick diversion to visit Le Moulin Girault, a property owned by Christophe, which he rents out as a couple of gités. The Moulin is by a small two-hectare lake hidden away in a small valley just to the north of Panzoult – clearly a quiet, fishing paradise.

Le Moulin Girault with caves in the hillside behind

Back at La Roncée we started with the promising range of 2008 reds – notable for their purity of black fruits but none yet in bottle. I particularly liked the Domaine de la Roncée and the Clos des Maronniers. The first vintage of the Clos des Capucins is very deep coloured with exuberant black fruits. It spent two months on its skins in an open topped vat, while Château Saint-Louans has long flavours of black cherries and violets.

The pear and floral Cuvée Marie-Justine Chinon Rosé is a contrast to the more structured rosé from Château de la Grille. Drink the Marie-Justine as an aperitif and La Grille with food.

We finished the tasting with three Chinon Blancs. First the citric 2008 Cuvée Chenin, their classic white Chinon that will be bottled in April. Then the concentrated 2008 Saint-Louans, fermented in barrique and due to spend a year in barrel. Currently showing some showing toasty oak but also minerality and good length – can’t be properly judged until it’s in bottle. The 2007 Saint-Louans is less concentrated, has a hint of toast but has the finesse and purity that is typical of Loire 2007 whites.

The tasting brought us to lunchtime. Christophe headed off to the Mayor's office at Cravant for a hastily grabbed sandwich amidst dealing with the affairs of state, while we headed off with Jean-Martin to the excellent Val de Vienne in Sazilly.