Céline Champalou

After the Puzelats we headed westwards along the Loire past Amboise to Husseau where we saw Frantz Saumon and tasted his current range of wines. Next on to Vouvray and Domaine Champalou where we saw Céline Champalou as her parents – Catherine and Didier – were away in Lyon for a tasting and lunch at Bocuse to mark the selection of their sparkling Vouvray for a prize.

Sign@Frantz Saumon

Two empty bottles@Frantz Saumon inc a magnum of Morgon from Marcel Lapierre

We then had time for a quick visit to the new premises of Château Gaudrelle in Rochecorbon and see Alexandre Monmousseau. Alexandre said he was stunned by how quickly this year's grapes were developing. "I have to keep pinching myself to make sure that I'm not dreaming!" He made an interesting observation on the possible effect of the flowering before the summer solstice. "Normally the flowering isn't finished until after the summer solstice when the length of the days are already starting to decline. This year the vines will have an additional 20-25 days during the period of maximum light. We don't know what effect this will have."

Alexandre opening a Vouvray and checking the cork

In the cellars of Gaudrelle

Then it was back to Montlouis to see Ludovic Chanson, whose wines I first tasted at this year's Salon des Vins de Loire. Having tasted his full range I remain impressed, especially with his Montlouis. Clearly yet another emerging star in Montlouis!

Ludovic Chanson

Bertrand Jousset cultivating his vines near Husseau

Last night had dinner at the RSJ (tagliatelle with wild mushroom particularly recommended). We drank the 2005 Le Portail, Vouvray from Didier and Catherine Champalou and the 2007 Anthologie du Clos from Vincent Roussely.

Le Portail comes from the vineyard just by the Champalous' house and winery and is vinified and aged in newish barrels for 12 months. As you would expect the 2005 is rich and mouthfilling with peach and honeyed fruit and some residual sugar making this a tendre or almost demi-sec style. As Le Portail is already 13.5% alc it would doubtless have raised the alcohol too high to have fermented this dry. Curiously the oak is still quite noticeable – perhaps it is the sweetness that accentuates it? Although I enjoyed the wine and it was a good match with the pasta, ideally I prefer the vintages of Portail when it is sec.

We then moved onto the 2007 Anthologie du Clos from Vincent Roussely's Clos Roussely, which has plenty of bright red fruits and some coal tar aromas – medium weight and good length. Naturally this has less concentration than the 2006 Anthologie but is a real success in a diicult year for reds. I wiould drink this quite young to enjoy its youthful fruit. Anthologie is a new addition to the RSJ list joining Vincent's 2008 Touraine Sauvignon and 2008 Touraine Gamay, which are already on the list and selling well.

(Declaration: I work as a consultant to the RSJ and have done for best part of 20 years.)

Bunch of Chenin in the Clos du Bourg – combination of noble rot and passerillage: 2.10.09

The official ban des vendanges was on 28th September, although some of the most serious producers waited until the end of the week to start picking. On the way back from picking friends up at Tours Airport today we made a quick diversion into Vouvray to have a look at the vines and also drop into see Didier Champalou and then Noël Pinguet (Domaine Huet).

First day of the harvest@the Champalous: picking machine for the pétillant

Didier Champalou: "We started today and have been picking for the pétillant naturel. The grapes have been coming in at between 12.5%-13% potential with 6.2-6.5g acidity. After fermentation this will come down to 5.5g. I'm happy with the balance. It has been very dry, which blocked the maturation for a while. Until a week ago the flavours were still un peu herbace (a little grassy) but they are fine now. Yields are between 45-50hl/ha."

Noël Pinguet backing in a load of 2009 grapes to the press area@Domaine Huet

Noël Pinguet: "We started on Thursday and in the reverse of normal are picking only the green green for our pétillants and secs as the alcoholic degrees are becoming too high. The grapes are coming in around 12.7% alc with 5.5 acidity. We are very short of stock of pétillants so it was essential that we first concentrated on picking the green grapes and leaving those starting to develop noble rot until later. So far we have 200hls of juice for the pétillants and will harvest another 100hl on Monday. It will be a big harvest this year, which will fill up our vats, although I'm not pressing the grapes hard."