2011 Cabernet Franc@Château du Petit Thouars

Sébastien du Petit Thouars

A brief visit to Château du Petit Thouars on Wednesday to see the Cabernet Franc just before it was harvested yesterday. The grapes, which will be machine harvested, looked in good condition. Any rotten or poor grapes have been removed by the picking machine passes. Their vineyard at Saint Germain sur Vienne has a cooler climate than the nearby Chinon appellation, so the grapes ripen a little later. 

As well as looking forward to a good harvest in 2011, Sébastien is hopeful that the Chinonais will accept their request to be included in the Chinon appellation. The Chinonais are due to vote on the request next year but at the dinner during La Verticale du Chinon (15th September 2011) Jean-Max Manceaux, president if the syndicat, seemed to be positive about their application, which concerns only some 50 hectares with the same clay limestone soil as found in the appellation vineyards on the south bank of the Vienne.

This small area of AC Touraine vineyard is being orphaned by the jihadists of AC Touraine in the Cher Valley, who intend to outlaw 100% Cabernet Franc and 100% Chenin from the Touraine appellation.      

More 2011 Cabernet Franc

2006 Côt (Clos Roche Blanche), 2008 Reuilly Pinot Noir (Denis Jamain) and 2005 Reserve (Château du Petit Thouars) 

Some notes on three recently drunk reds – made from the three different varieties. Let's start first with the 2008 Reuilly, which is 100% Pinot Noir and is made by always reliable Denis Jamain (Domaine de Reuilly). Described very succinctly as 'delicious' by CRM, this easy drinking, vibrantly red fruited Pinot that worked very well with veal kidneys finished in a cream and mushroom sauce. This is Denis straight Reuilly red cuvée designed to be drunk fairly young with an accent on the fruit. He has two other cuvées – Les Chênes and La Comtesse – that benefit from longer aging and are more complex wines. 

Denis' fine Pinots are another reminder that the Loire's Central Vineyards can and does produce Pinot Noirs that are well worth discovering if you are not already into this secret.

Next up the 2005 Reserve Cabernet Franc from Château du Petit Thouars offering remarkable value at 6€ from the château. It has the concentration, richness and power expected from a 2005. I decided to try this 2005 to see how it is developing. I concluded that it ideally needs another couple of years or so to show its best, so a bit a patience is needed. In the meantime drink the deliciously soft, black fruited 2009 Sélection (5€) from Thouars.

Then the 2006 Côt from the Clos Roche Blanche. I can't remember trying their 2006 Côt recently. It certainly has richness – spicy black fruits – but it is less precise and lacks a little of the zip in the finish that these Roche Blanche Côts normally have. It is still an attractive drink but I fancy it reflects the difficult conditions of the 2006 vintage when galloping rot forced vignerons to pick as rapidly as possible. I would certainly make sure it is served cool to preserve freshness.          

Having discussed the AC reforms and the possible solutions we moved onto to tasting some unfinished wines in the cellar. When Yves and Marguerite began to make wine again they used the old cave, which like many of the cellars in this region had originally been created when people quarried the tuffeau (limestone) to build houses. Later it has been used for wine making and you can still see  notches on the cellar wall where a large wooden press was attached. A few years ago they built a more modern facility at the entrance to the cave where they have the press and some stainless steel and fiberglass vats.

We started the tasting with the 2009 Rosé. This is a clear indicator that wine making here comes before commerce. It was obvious that Sébastien would have liked to be able to have some 2009 Rosé to sell over the summer. However, the 2009 is not yet ready. It has been fermented in 400 litre barrels. "2009 took a long time to complete its alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. They have only just finished," said Michel. Sébastien looked somewhat crestfallen when Michel announced that the 2009 Rosé would not be ready to bottle until the end of the year. "It has to take its time," said Yves. "This is the first time that we have vinified our rosé in barrel.

Certainly although yet to be bottled this 2009 Thouars Rosé is far from your typical young rosé. It has more weight and structure than is customary with a floral and red fruits character. I fancy that if you tasted this blindfolded you might well have difficulty identifying it as a rosé. Will be interesting to taste when it is finally in bottle.   

Sébastien du Petit Thouars and Michel Pinard

We then tasted some 2009s reds including the Reserve from barrel which looks promising with dense fruit, good balance but slightly drying tannins but it still has some months in barrel left. We also tasted a potential special cuvée from 2009 – a blend of old vines and press wines.

Next we headed out into the vineyard to the Clos just above the château and to see the new plantings of Chenin Blanc. The vineyards are grassed over in the centre of the row with weeds between the vines controlled by weedkiller.

The new plantings of Chenin Blanc are selection massale planted on calcaire ("pretty hard" – Michel) along with some silieuse.

The new Chenin Blanc plantation

Post on going 

Part One is here.

 

Château du Petit Thouars

The entrance to the château certainly grabs your attention, especially if the light is striking its white limestone walls as it was yesterday when we turned off the road between Chinon and Saumur and entered the driveway. Petit Thouars was made all the more dramatic by the threatening black clouds that would briefly unleash two downpours on us during the visit.

Driveway leading to the château  

We were greeted by Yves and Marguerite du Petit Thouars. Yves and Marguerite took over the château in 1971 and in 1975 started to reestablish the vineyard, which now extends to some 15 hectares. There had long been vines on the property but production ceased and the vines were abandoned after the Second World War. Hitherto they have replanted Cabernet Franc exclusively but the latest vines to be planted is Chenin Blanc with 70 ares going in this year.  

The family has owned the château since 1636 when Aubert du Petit Thouars bought the château on the advice of Cardinal Richelieu. Doubtless the patronage of Richelieu helped to ensure that the price was reasonable – certainly Yves had no hesitation in agreeing yesterday that it was "une bonne affaire". The Petit Thouars continue to be mainly based in Paris but make frequent visits to the château. "I come down every week," Yves told me, "although sometimes I just come down for the day".

Marguerite  du Petit Thouars was a well known wine and food journalist writing for Le Figaro and Cuisine et Vins de France as well as being the editor-in-chief for L'Amateur de Bordeaux. 

Their son, Sébastien, and his Canadian girlfriend, D'Arcy Flueck who is a travel writer based in Paris, soon joined us.We headed up to the vines nearby but unfortunately the rain was quicker and we were caught in a downpour and had to run for the cellar. Here we met the ebullient and energetic Michel Pinard, who has made the château's wine since 2007. Michel made the wine at Charles Joguet (Chinon) for 21 years, having started his career at Château de Targe (Saumur-Champigny) with Edouard Pisani-Ferry. He met Joguet in 1983 and left the estate in 2005. Michel also makes the wines of Edouard de la Palme's nearby Le Château de la Trochoire in Couziers.

Michel Pinard

Immediately we were launched into the controversy over the daft proposals to reform AC Touraine. Proposals that if approved will hit Château du Petit Thouars hard as their historic grape varieties – Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc – will no longer be entitled to the Touraine appellation. "All of our vines are on argile-calcaire, which is the best terroir of Chinon," insisted Michel. "There is a long history of wine production here. There are nine producers here on the 'Rive Gauche' (left bank of the Vienne) spread across seven communes."

We quickly agree that the AC Touraine reform proposals make no sense particularly in this part of the appellation where is no tradition of growing Sauvignon and Côt. Instead Cabernet Franc and Chenin  Blanc are the traditional varieties here as they are in the neighbouring appellations of Chinon and Saumur-Champigny.

"We applied to the INAO to have a new appellation – Touraine Côtes de Seuilly  – but this was turned down," continued Michel. The INAO does, however, look likely to approve Touraine-Chenonceaux and Touraine-Oisly further east in the Cher Valley. Although it may be ironic that the INAO turned down the request for a Côtes de Seuilly I'm not convinced that this would have been a good solution as it would be not easy trying to explain and promote yet another small French appellation.

"We are in discussion with Chinon over being included within their appellation," said Michel. It will be interesting to see how the Chinonais react to this proposal as it would certainly solve the rather embarrassing problem that the ill considered reforms to Appellation Touraine has thrown up: it would no longer be necessary to expel the western Touraine producers from the appellation.          

End of part 1


 

Château du Petit Thouars

We finally managed a visit to Château du Petit Thouars, which included a visit to the vineyards in between a couple of heavy showers of rain.

Hopefully a full report tomorrow.

Last night we tasted and then drank a couple of bottles of 2008 Château du Petit Thouars - both pure Cabernet Franc. We started with the Sélection, which is fairly described on the back label as 'un vin de plaisir'. It has a bright, garnet colour with red fruits aromas and flavours. Very much an easy wine it has some light tannins in the finish. This 2008 Sélection is drinking very well at the moment. During the summer it needs to be served lightly chilled - around 15 C. Best to drink this up in the next year or so to enjoy its young fruit, while waiting for the 2008 Reserve.

 

The 2008 Réserve from Château du Petit Thouars shows promise but needs a little more time to show its best. A little deep in colour than the Sélection, it has more structure and concentration with a mix of red fruits and some wood notes. Already elegant I think the Réserve is best left another 18 months or so. It can be drunk with food now, especially if put in a carafe. 

Wine writer, André Dominé, who tasted with me neatly summed up the two 2008s as 'well made wines'.

These two bottles were part of a small selection kindly sent to me by Sébastien du Petit Thouars.  I intend to try the other vintages over the next week or so.

I don't know whether these 100% Cabernet Francs will be allowed under the proposed AC Touraine reforms as the proposals indicate a requirement for at least 50% Côt. Nothing wrong with Côt except that there is very little Côt in Western Touraine. 

Cabernet Franc Reserve: 2003, 2005, 2006

It was a bit of a saga getting the samples from Château du Petit Thouars delivered to me in the Loire – one attempted delivery when I wasn’t around in April and then one of two packages apparently stolen from the courier’s warehouse. Anyway I have now tasted the wine sent.

The Château du Petit Thouars is in Saint-Germain-sur-Vienne not far outside the Chinon appellation. A few years back the producers in this part of western Touraine applied to be included in the Chinon appellation but were turned down. Certainly the three reserve reds – 2003, 2005 and 2006 – I tried were Chinon-like and in each case true to their vintage. I fancy blind it would be difficult to pick them out from a range of Chinons.

The 2003 is typical of its year – ripe, concentrated, pruny and figgy fruit with some gamy tones. It does, however, have enough freshness in the finish to stop it from being cloying. It went very well with a meaty grilled tuna steak. The 2005 is quite tight but has potential with good concentration of smoky black fruits – best to keep this a couple of years for it to show its best. The gamy 2006 is less concentrated, more open with more acidity. Ready to drink now while waiting for the 2005. It went well with a slow roasted shoulder of lamb.

2008 Rosé lit up by the bright morning light of Cap d'Agde

I found the austere and bracing 2008 Thouars Rosé with its notes of red fruits and rhubarb less attractive – it could do with more fruit. It’s a rosé de saignée – so the juice for the rosé is bled off the red wine tanks helping to concentrate the reds with rosé being somewhat of a by-product. I fancy that Thouars would make a better rosé if they dedicated specific vineyards for their rosé and then either pressed the grapes immediately after picking or allowed a short maceration to get a more coloured rosé.

I also tasted their creamy and nicely balanced Crémant de Loire and the sparkling rosé, which should appeal to many, although I found it a little too sweet. I would prefer a slightly lower dosage.

Overall the three reserve reds were the best wines.