A picnic in the middle of Menetou-Salon

Firstly, apologies that there wasn't another post yesterday. Unfortunately my best efforts were undone by a firewall where we were staying.

Driving over to Sancerre we came off the motorway at Vierzon and headed across country via Menetou-Salon and Morogues, stopping in Menetou for a couple of photos. It is noticeable, coming from the west to Menetou, you come through apple and pear country. Apart from one vineyard in the town, the vines don't appear to start until the eastern side of the town. Weatherwise a magnificent day.

Le Bric au Broc

We had a very good and reasonably priced lunch in the bistro section of La Côte des Mont Damnés. Two courses for 8.50€, three for 11.90€.The lunch menu yesterday was: quiche aux poireaux, navarin d’agneau and chanciaux aux pommes.

In the afternoon we had the tasting of 2009 whites – Pouilly-Fumé, Quincy and Sancerre. 126 wines in total 15 from Quincy, 41 Pouilly-Fumé and 70 Sancerre. I will write this up more detail over the next few days but of the three appellations I found Quincy to be the most consistent, although not the most interesting. I was more impressed with Pouilly-Fumé than usual. There were some very good Sancerres but also some that are currently suffering from being over-ripe with a lack of freshness.

 Looking over Les Loges to La Loire

After the tasting we did a quick visit to Pouilly to take some photos in the vineyards.

Vines above Les Loges and La Loire

In the evening we went to a Franco-Dutch evening at La Maison des Sancerre. The town of Sancerre is twinned with Markelo in Holland and there are a number of Dutch people who have had a long connection with the Sancerre region. Some have bought houses in the town. It was a lovely warm evening so we were able to eat and drink outside overlooking the old quarter of Sancerre and the vineyards.

Man eating a herring at the Franco-Dutch evening

Below an accordion player from Holland

 Château de Tracy

I start the third section with a couple of classics from the Central Vineyards:

2008 Caillottes, Sancerre, Jean-Max Roger

Although Jean-Max and his family doesn't get the media attention accorded to some other Sancerre producers, if you want a reference for consistently high quality Sancerre then you'll find it with Jean-Max Roger's wines. The ripe nose of the 2008 Caillottes is slightly deceptive as the wine is a countebalance of quite austere minerality with ripe gooseberry flavours. (Shown by Champagnes & Châteaux)

 Jean-Max Roger

2007 and 2008 Pouilly-Fumé, Château de Tracy, Count Henry d'Estutt d'Assay

I tasted the 08 and the 07 vintages – first the 2008 Tracy and then the 2007. It might have been better to have tasted them the other way round but, as Kurt Vonnegut said from time to time, so it goes. Although the 2007 and 2008 vintages have much in common the 2008 is definitely the riper, more concentrated of the two years with a ripe aromas and flvaours, although with quite an austere finish. The 2007 is very typical of this very precise, clean years – leaner, more mineral and austere.  

Count Henry in his Haute Densité vineyard: October 2009 

At Les Grands Chais de France I had an interesting tasting with Tim North, the UK director. "One of Grands Chais' best moves was to buy Vinival," he said. The 2009 Kiwi Cuvée is an inter-regional blend of Sauvignon coming from the Loire, Gascony and the Midi. The sort of inter-regional blending that is entirely common and natural in Australia but something that vin de pays producers in the Midi have long fought to prevent – going to court to derail earlier attempts such as cépages de France to have the inter-regional option. Kiwi Cuvée is soft, easy drinking, commercial and reasoanble value at £5.99.

As well as buying Vinival in the Loire, Grands Chais also snapped up Maison Sauvion, including Château du Cléray (Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine), and Châteu de Fesles. The austere and lemony 2008 Château du Cléray with a long finish shows that Pierre Sauvion continues to make good Muscadet. 

Part 4 – Les Caves de Pyrène (to follow)

This was a useful opportunity to taste a good number of Loire wines fairly quickly. I was rather unusually well organised for the tasting as I had downloaded the tasting catalogue in advance and printed off the lists from exhibitors showing Loire wines. Something worth doing as it saved a lot of time scrabbling through the 105 page catalogue on the day.

Highlights included the rich and opulent 2008 Quincy from Phillippe Portier and the soft and concentrated 2006 Concerto Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil, Vignoble de la Janoterie These two producers are looking for UK importers. I tried all the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc AC Touraine Ambassadors, the Interloire project involving Interloire). From these I'd pick out: quite concentrated Ante Vinum, Château de Quinçay (Meusnes in the Cher Valley and a producer of Touraine and Valençay),  the very zippy and fresh Domaine de Fontenay (Didier Corby), the 2009 Châteauvieux from Pierre Chainier, the Cristal Buisse (Paul Buisse – now part of Pierre Chainier) and Domaine Gibault (Les Martinières, Noyers-sur-Cher).

I tasted the full range on show from Domaine Fouassier (Sancerre) – represented on this occasion by Benoît and Paul Fouassier and the ever green, Michael Ott, The estate is in full conversion to biodynamic viticulture  and tasting these wines confirms my view that this a domaine on the move. Among the around dozen wines tasted I particularly liked the mouthfilling 2008 'sur la fort' white Sancerre from limestone slopes and the weighty and minerally 2008 Les Chasseignes (clay and limestone). Although they have been making Melodie de Gustave Fouassier since 1996, I hadn't come across it before. This Sancerre Blanc is a blend that is selected at the momenrt of pressing and then fermented for around 10 months in wood. Only 3000 bottles are made, which is probably why I haven't encountered it before. There is still a touch of wood on the 2006 but it has attractive rich and toasty fruit. 

It was good to taste some of Daniel Lambert Wines Ltd's selection of Loire wines including those from Domaine Villageau in the Coteaux du Giennois like the clean and weighty 2009 white (100% Sauvignon Blanc) and too reds that have a minimal percentage of Gamay – presumably to comply with the absurd AC regulations that ban 100% Pinot Noir and insist on a small percentage of Gamay. The 2008 Les LiCôtes has an attractive, ripe Pinot Noir character of some structure. Aged in wood it doesn't need its small drop of Gamay. Under the VDQS regulations Villageau could market a 100% Pinot Noir, if AC regulations were based on common sense they would be able to sell a 100% Pinot Noir as an AC Coteaux du Giennois.

Daniel had a couple of 2008 Sancerres from Balland-Chapuis – I preferred the more mineral La Vallion to the other Sancerre that rather dominated by asparagus notes.

To finish..