2009 Coteaux du Giennois (Blanc) Domaine de Villargeau

Staying with  friends overnight in the countryside near Derby, who kindly went to  their local Majestic  in Derby and bought selection of Loire wines for us to try. Apparently when they commented that they were impressed with the range of Loires carried by Majestic, the salesman said that someone had been in a few days previously complaining that the selection was poor. 

Over lunch we tried a couple. Firstly the attractively vibrant and citric 2009 Coteaux du Giennois (100% Sauvignon Blanc) from Domaine de Villargeau but with some of the weight of 2009. Would certainly make a good aperitif.  

2007 Les Cinq Climats, Cabernet Franc, Charles Joguet

Then onto Charles Joguet's 2007 Les Cinq Climats, Chinon. This 2007 is drinking very well now. As you would expect given the vintage and the cuvée, which I think is a another name for the entry level Cuvée Terroir. (Will have to check this.) Medium weight with soft, red fruits, this was a good match with the home-made terrine. Best served lightly chilled. 

Our friends also bought a Cheverny and a Sancerre – all from good growers – without exhausting Majestic's Loire selection, so the criticism that Majestic don't have much of a Loire range is misplaced.   

 

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.

 

 

Mairie@Epeigné-les-Bois

The Associations des Parents d'éléves de Luzillé et d'Epeigné are organising a moules frites evening on Saturday 26th June at Epeigné's Sales des Fêtes starting at 20h.

Price: 9€ for an adult, 6€ for a child. Telephone 02.47.57.87.46 for a reservation.

**

I learned today that François-Xavier Barc has left Charles Joguet and now plans to make his own wine in Chinon, Bourgueil or Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil.

 

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! 

The family house@Domaine Charles Joguet

As promised a further posting arising from Jonathan Nossiter's Liquid Memory sparked by his comments on Charles Joguet and brands.

'So why was I so anxious? Because the potential drama that underlies Yvonne's estate had already been played out for real with Joguet. Without any children to take over, and deeply in debt, Joguet had sold the winery in 1997. The name of a vigneron who represented the apogee of artistic individuality had become reduced to a brand when the new owners kept the name. When I recently spotted a young man in a Tokyo wine shop with a bottle of 2002 Joguet in his hand, I thought, "Another innocent victim, ten thousand miles away." The wine drinkers across the globe, from Paris to New York to Tokyo, who now buy the wines of "Charles" are in fact buying nothing more than the branded representation of the artisan, an increasingly common problem in every facet of life.'

Did Nossiter seriously imagine that those who bought the Charles Joguet estate would immediately change its name? Charles' name and reputation would have added considerably to the value of the estate, which already had some very good parcels of vines. Surely under Charles' tutelage 'Charles Joguet' was already a brand – albeit a very good one.

Nossiter continues: 'However, it is important to point out that having tasted them numerous times, I wouldn't say that the wines now labeled "Joguet" are bad. But without the touch of the artisan-artist, the Joguet Chinons have become banal. Which may be more dangerous.'

Over the next couple of pages Nossiter keeps referring to the post-Charles Joguet era wines from the Domaine Charles Joguet – 'Joguet brand imposter' and 'the counterfeit Joguet wine'. I do think that the Charles Joguet wines declined after the sale in 1997, although they are now returning to form. But I find Nossiter's view naive and silly – after all wine estates in France do change hands quite frequently and quality levels rise and decline. Why are the Charles Joguet wines now 'brand imposters' and 'counterfeit', when the estate was doubtless properly sold in 1997.

I'm not surprised that Liquid Memory has enraged some reviewers, notably Mike Steinberger in Slate (30th October 2009) in a post entitled In Vino Pompousness.

Les Varennes du Grand Clos is a 4.5 hectare parcel of vines at Sazilly (south bank of the Vienne) effectively an eastward continuation of the Clos de La Dioterie. The vines are planted on a gravel terrace with some flinty clay and limestone soil eroded from the limestone slopes. The vines were planted between 1962 and 1976. The wine spends 15-16 months in second to fourth fill barriques.

The 2004 has some of the concentration that is now a mark of the Joguet estate under François-Xavier Barc with sooty, herbal Loire Cabernet Franc aromas and flavours. It has the edginess that is a mark of many 2004s and ideally still needs more time to mellow in bottle. Alternatively I would decant it a couple of hours in advance of serving. 2004 is a more difficult vintage than 2003 or 2005 but this Les Varennes shows that good and conscientious producers can succeed despite more adverse conditions.

We tried it two evenings running. The first night with the classic Elizabeth David slow cooked pork chop, potato and onion recipe from French Provincial cooking. The match wasn't entirely successful as the sweetness from the onions and the pork hid some of the Varennes' fruit. The second evening it worked much better with lamb chops griilled simply giving the wine more volume and roundness – making it a good match. Although the remnants were kept in a half bottle in the fridge, the additional air time probably helped this 2004 to mellow further.

The 2004 is available from Majestic Wine@£14.99 a bottle.

Clos de la Dioterie – Les Varennes is just a little further east

Mass of insects on and in the bin below the sorting table@Domaine Charles Joguet

During a swift visit yesterday to Domaine Charles Joguet where we saw François-Xavier (FX) Barc and his team, I discovered to my astonishment how many insects are gathered in even when picking grapes into cagets (small plastic boxes).

Grapes waiting to be sorted at Domaine Charles Joguet: 8.10.09

The domaine has a new vibrating sorting table which includes a series of small holes through which undersized and dried out grapes (often burnt to a frazzle by the sun) as well as insects drop through into a blue bin underneath. Here are some photos of this host of spiders, ladybirds and earwigs etc. Normally all of these insects end up in the fermenting vat, while these fortunates will be returned to the vines. Many of these insects, the ladybirds, are highly beneficial as they eat unwanted insects that attack the vine and its grapes.

Closer view of some of the insects

......and closer

Of course there will be many fewer insects in grapes from vineyards sprayed with pesticides, insecticides and weedkillers.

The presence of fermented insects in wine may at last explain the origin of le goût de terroir! Certainly if labelling of all wine ingredients becomes complusory it will be necessary to list insects. Whether it will be necessary to list the proportion and the species remains to be seen.

A wider view – there are whole clusters of ladybirds on the insides of the bin

2 September 2009

Keith Prothero considering the 1989 Clos de la Dioterie, Charles Joguet

Had a very agreeable lunch with Keith Prothero, who is involved in various charity (just giving) and wine projects including the Pebbles Project, Mullineux Wines and is an investor in the award winning The Sampler.

Apero: 1976 Le Mont Vouvray demi-sec, Domaine Huet

This is one of the remaining bottles that we bought during one of several visits to Domaine Huet in the early 1980s. We bought a number of 1976s – mainly moelleux. Many of them have had problematic corks – not corked but not well sealed so several of them have been quite ullaged. One, indeed, that we tried about a year to 18 months ago was only two-thirds full. Nevertheless I pulled the cork, fearing the worse, and was amazed that it was still fine and not oxidised.

This demi-sec was less ullaged – high shoulder – but was probably more affected. A question of being demi-sec rather than moelleux, the higher level of sugar providing greater protection? Mid to deep gold with definite notes of oxidation on the nose; on the palate this still has that wonderful balance of honeyed fruit and acidity that makes Huet's wines so thrilling. Slightly baked fruit – a reminder of how hot and dry 1976 was. (In the UK Denis Howell was famously appointed 'Minister for Drought' whereupon the skies opened a few days later!)

This being a déjeuner de la modération Keith and I kept some of the 1976 to try later on – it worked well with my linguine and crab and, a while later, with the blue cheese. I had put it in a carafe and over the course of a couple of hours or so it opened up and certainly didn't become more oxidised, although I do think that due to the ullaging it wasn't as good as it might have been. Nevertheless memorable.

First course: 1998 Les Cormiers, Saumur Blanc, Château de Villeneuve

Les Cormiers is Jean-Pierre Chevallier's top cuvée of Saumur Blanc, vinified in 500 litre barrels with a proportion of new oak. JP is always keen to keep Chenin's acidity, so there is no malo here. The 1998 is an interesting contrast to the 1999, one of JP's really great Les Cormiers. The 1999 is much richer, creamier, more flattering than the 1998, which was a difficult year with a wet and cool September. The quite austere 1998 reflects this with precise minerality – still very youthful. Tasted blind it would be difficult to divine that this wine is now nearly 11 years old. Worked well with both Keith's quiche and my linguine and crab.

1996 Grand Clos, Saumur-Champigny, Château de Villeneuve

I'm a great fan of 1996 Loire reds – a really classic vintage – and I think Jean-Pierre Chevallier's Grand Clos is one of the finest examples of the vintage. It has the typical Loire Cabernet Franc herbal character with touches of sous bois, rich, silky fruit and good structure and length. It shows no sign of tiring and will still be a fine bottle for several years to come. Not surprising that the 1996 Grand Clos has stunned the Bordelais on a number of occasions in blind tastings.

1989 Clos de la Dioterie, Chinon, Charles Joguet

Next, the 1989 Closde la Dioterie Chinon from Charles Joguet. This was made when Charles was at the height of his powers, nearly a decade before he retired, and when he was generally considered the best Chinon producer. I've had several bottles of the 1989 Dioterie and, although it had lovely silky, voluptuous fruit on the palate – closer to Burgundy than to Bordeaux – on the nose it was beginning to show its age. Initially when we opened it, it had that typical Joguet animal, kidney nose. However, it soon took on that tiring, slightly pencil shavings nose.

And the wine of the lunch: I'd have to go for the Grand Clos, although all revealed the possibilities of the Loire.

Chenonceau and the Cher

Aynard de Clermont Tonnerre comments on his Clos du Porteau blog that progress is being made with the proposed sub-appellations of Touraine Chenonceaux and Touraine Oisly. As these two projects have been rumbling around for about 20 years, it will be good news (with some qualifications) if they finally come to fruition.

The AC Touraine Oisly would be for Sauvignon Blanc from the communes of Oisly et Thesée, while Chenonceaux would apparently include Bléré in the west down the Cher to Noyers-sur-Cher in the east. Chenonceaux would be for Sauvignon Blanc and a blended red, which is where I have my doubts. The best reds from the Cher are not necessarily blends – well made Côt is probably the best red of the Cher Valley and eastern Touraine. If the AC Chenonceaux is actually to mean anything and not just a political fudge then Côt should be permitted as a single varietal and, quite possibly, Cabernet. Naturally made to strict rules covering yields etc.

This is not to say that there aren't a few good blends here – often a mix of Cabernet and Côt is the most successful. But there are also too many poor red blends often involving Gamay as the sometimes wretched examples of Touraine-Amboise François Ier bear witness. Apparently when AC Touraine-Amboise was established it was decided not to include Côt. This now quite often means that the best reds from Amboise producers are designated AC Touraine and not Touraine-Amboise.

•••

Attention escroquerie
New scam warning

From the Vignerons Indépendants Centre Val de Loire
Certains d’entre vous ont été contactés par un certain Jeffrey McDonald, selon les termes du message ci-dessous. La société Raeburn Fine Wines existe bien mais elle ne connait pas ce monsieur et vous incite à ne pas lui répondre.

(Attention le numéro de téléphone est, comme d'habitude, pour une portable. Jim)

Several producers in the Loire have received a message from Jeffrey McDonald, who claims to work for Raeburn Fine Wines in Edinburgh. Raeburn is a long established high quality and interesting wine merchant but McDonald certainly does not work for them. The message is very similar to many previously sent by Eric Thorman etc. The sole telephone number given is a mobile.

Best to delete his email (below) immediately.

De : Mc Donald Janie [mailto:raeburnfinewines@scotlandmail.com]
Envoyé : vendredi 5 juin 2009 13:35
À : undisclosed-recipients:
Objet : Vente de vos vins au Royaume Unis

From : Mc Donald Jeffrey
Head Office and Sales
21/23 Comely Bank Road
Edinburgh
EH4 1DS, Scotland, UK
Phone : +44751085783
E-mail : raeburnfinewines@scotlandmailcom

Monsieur ,

Ayant dégusté vos vins ici à Edinburgh, je me suis permis de rentrer en contact avec vous pour vous pour vous faire savoir que je suis intéressés par la distribution de vos millésimes en Irlande et en Angleterre.
je souhaiterais collaborer avec vous.
je voudrais savoir vos disponibilités et vos tarifs à l'export.
Je voudrais que vous me confirmiez vos conditions de travail (paiement à 30 ou 60 jours fin de mois - assuré COFACE, temps de préparation d'une commande) pour vous transmettre une commande à exporter pour la vente sur les deux territoires Irlandais et Anglais.
je vous fais savoir que je ne vend pas en grande surface mais seulement à des clients particuliers (bars, restaurants, casinos, night club, ...).
Dans l'attente de votre réponse, veuillez accepter nos salutations distinguées.

•

Avis:
Encore un fumiste qui se fait passer pour un acheteur....il tourne. Si vous avez reçu un mail de ce genre d'escrocs , il y a un inspecteur de police à Londres , Paul Cheadley qui suit les dossiers de ces escrocs et qui demande à tous de l'aider en lui transmettant les mails qu'on reçoit des escrocs..

Si nous ne faisons pas ce geste civique ils continueront à trouver des pigeons...

Paul.Cheadle@met.police.uk

Ce Paul est en plus très sympas et remercie tout le monde de notre coopération.

•••

The report on the visit to Charles Joguet (2nd June 2009) is now complete. Now working on the visit to Jérome Billard 'heading for the top' of Domaine de la Noblaie.

2nd June 2009

François-Xavier Barc

Some of my most memorable Loire reds have been from Charles Joguet – Dioterie 1988 and 1989 in particular. At the beginning of the 1990s Charles Joguet was widely hailed as the best producer in Chinon. In 1997 Charles, who had founded the estate 40 years before in 1957, bowed out selling the vineyards and the right to use his name. The domaine is based in the small village of Sazilly on the south bank of the Vienne

Charles Joguet's family house at Sazilly

There was a marked dip in the quality of the Charles Joguet wines at the beginning of this century. Tasting the range on several occasions the wines were disappointing and lacking concentration. I particularly recall a tasting at the Decanter Fine Wine Encounter in London in either 2001 or 2002 (I must check back through past notes) when I was decidedly underwhelmed.

This dip may have been related to Charles’ retirement. It is also quite likely to be have been related to the departure of François-Xavier Barc, who had been assistant wine-maker from 1998 to 2000. Equally the return to form came with the return of F-X B to the domaine in 2003 in charge of winemaking. Indeed during our visit on Tuesday (2nd June) F-X hinted as much. He said that when he returned in 2003 there were things that needed to be tightened up such as the management of the barrels etc. The barrels are now bought second-hand from Alphonse Mellot in Sancerre. Had yields also been allowed to creep up I wonder?

La Dioterie

We started our visit at La Dioterie, which is beside the winery. La Dioterie is split into two the upper and lower portion. There are slight differences in maturity between the two parcels and they might be bottled separately but it makes more sense to blend the two parts together rather than create another cuvée. Les Varennes du Grand Clos is just to the east of La Dioterie. At the moment there is a strip of bare earth between the two vineyards. This is where Les Varennes Les Francs Pieds – the ungrafted Cabernet Franc – used to be. Unfortunately they were consumed by phylloxera and had to be ripped out last year. 2007 was the last vintage made.

La Dioterie: the estate is in conversion to organic viticulture

We kicked off the tasting with the vibrant 2008 Rosé, which is a rosé de saignée from vines on sand and clay. Then we looked at a series of 2007s starting with the well-made but quite lean Cuvée Terroir (7.50€ - from the domaine) followed by the more weighty Cuvée les Petits Roches (8.50€). Cuvée Terroir largely comes from vines at Beaumont-en-Véron on the other side of the Vienne, while Petits Roches are from 6/7 hectares of vines on gravel to the north of and below Ligre. The 2007 Cuvée de la Cure (10€) was the first of my hits with its soft fruit and hints of spice – certainly worth paying the extra money. This wine undergoes its malo in barrel and is aged for 12 months in 6/7 year-old barrels and comes from a parcel vines of clay over gravel at Sazilly just in front of the village church.

The Chêne Vert is the famous two hectare steep sloping, south-facing vineyard in Chinon itself at the Haute Olive. The 2007 (18€) has promising sweet fruit but is quite toasty at the moment and really needs another year or two. It is aged in barriques of one to three wines. The concentrated and structured 2007 Dioterie (19€) will be bottled in August.

Next we tasted a number of 2008s from barrel including a powerful Clos de la Cure and a structured, smoky, black cherry Dioterie. At this stage the 2008s look promising but we’ll have to see how they are once they are in bottle.

We finished by tasting the Joguet whites, which come from Chenin planted in a 3 hectare vineyard at the boat building village of Saint-Germain-sur-Vienne outside the Chinon appellation so are AC Touraine. The 2007 Clos de la Plante Martin (12€) is absolutely delicious with apricot and touches of dry honey, good weight and lovely precision. Underlines what a good vintage 2007 can be for Loire whites. The 2008 is still in barrel (400 litre) and has weight and mineral precision – should be good.



Finally a curiosity – 2007 Nectar de la Plante Martin – a sweet wine with 9% alcohol, 7 gms acidity and 150 grams of residual sugar. Certainly rich – fine sucrosity on the palate – with a lot of citrus fruit with a long fresh finish. Would make a great aperitif.

F-X B and his team are making some good things here particularly at the top end. Top picks for me were the 2007 Clos de la Cure and the Clos de la Plante Martin.

Pithon-Paillé: Wendy Wilson, Joseph Paillé, Isabelle and Jo Pithon

Micaela Frow (La Grande Maison) has kindly brought to my attention a link to Jim's Loire that Elisabeth Poulain makes in an article about Joseph Paillé of Pithon-Paillé. Elizabeth wrote Le Vin aussi est affaire de femmes. I haven't met Elisabeth but Micaela tells me that 'she has been writing about the Loire and it's wines for many years'. Here is Elisabeth's blog. I will have to look out for Le Vin aussi est affaire de femmes as well as the women that make wine in the Loire, there are many women at wine estates throughout the Loire, who play an unsung role keeping the show on the road, while the spotlight and the plaudits falls on the man.

•••

Charles Joguet expose à l'Hôtel de Ville de Tours (20.05 au 20.06)

Elisabeth's posting of the 8th May covers the Charles Joguet exhibition in Tours:

‘Sa prochaine exposition à l’Hôtel de Ville de Tours en témoigne. Elle va durer un mois (20 mai au 20 juin) chaque après-midi du lundi au samedi de 14 h à 18h.’

Charles was always a painter. When he retired from running his Chinon domaine in 1997 he was able to devote more time to his painting.

Pizzaman Fabrice in action at Saint-Georges-sur-Cher

(14 August 2008)
After our day in Chinon, Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil we decide to have a bottle of Charles Joguet’s 1988 Clos de la Dioterie (Chinon) as well as the 2003 La Croix Boissée that Bernard Baudry kindly gave us at the end of our visit. We had already arranged that it was going to be pizzas this evening. Every Thursday Fabrice (tel: 06.63.52.00.43) and his mobile pizza oven are in front of the church in Saint–Georges-sur-Cher. Fabrice is in a different place each night of the week: Monday (Montrichard), Tuesday (Meusnes), Wednesday (Saint-Romain) and Friday (Contres). His pizzas are certainly recommended, although perhaps not the ideal match for the Dioterie.

The 1988 Dioterie is in fine shape: still bright coloured not looking its nearly 20 years with lovely delicate brambly fruit and long flavoured. It is showing all the finesse and delicacy that made Charles Joguet’s reputation. Equally it is a reminder of how good the 1988 Loire vintage can be both in reds and sweet whites. It has had the misfortune to be eclipsed by the two vintages that followed: the superb 1989 and, nearly as fine, 1990.

Clos de la Dioterie 1988, Chinon, Charles Joguet

Following Charles Joguet’s retirement in 1997 I have found the domaine patchy. In particular I remember tasting the range at one of Decanter's Fine Wine Encounters in the Landmark Hotel, London. Although I can’t at the moment remember the year I do remember finding the wines very disappointing. With a new team in place it is definitely time to reassess the recent releases.

The 1988 Dioterie proved to be a hard act to follow for the 2003 Croix Boissée, which has all the power and richness of the very hot 2003 vintage but is at the moment decidedly clumsy in comparison to the Dioterie.

Still to come from August visits with The Wine Detective our day in Montlouis: François Chidaine, Stéphane Cossais, Les Loges de la Folie and Jacky Blot.

Charles Joguet, La Dioterie, 37220 Sazilly
Tel: 02.47.58.55.53
Email: contact@charlesjoguet.com
Web: www.charlesjoguet.com

Fabrice Pizza: tel: 06.63.52.00.43