Aynard de Clermont Tonnerre: a global vision from his new office!

Posts to come include a tasting of 2009s at Couly-Dutheil on Tuesday afternoon, tasting more 2009s at La Maison des Vins de Tours with Marie Colombe Haudebert and a round up of recently tasted wines.

Opened a bottle of Aynard and Isabelle Clemont Tonnerre's 2009 Les Chaffines, AC Touraine. This is 100% Sauvignon Blanc and has mouthfilling texture and the typical richness of 2009 – more tropical fruit than grassy and gooseberry. It lacks a little bit of freshness in the finish, so is a better food wine than apéritif.

On our return to London Sunday evening we drank the Clos du Porteau's PetNat – a fun wine made from 80% Gamay and 20% Grolleau with an attractive mid-pink colour and 8% alcohol, so there is some residual sweetness. I should have taken a photo of a glass of his PetNat but the wine had been drunk by the time I remembered my camera!   

Duchesse de Clemont Tonnere

Aynard and Isabelle Clermont Tonnerre, Clos du Porteau 

News yesterday that the PetNat of the Clos du Porteau (AC Touraine) has fallen foul of France's byzantine wine laws with their Red PetNat, a new product. A blend of Gamay and Grolleau it has a fashionably low level of alcohol – 8.5%. It appears to correspond to a demand in the UK market as Aynard and Isabelle de Clermont Tonnerre, owners of the Clos, have orders for it from Waitrose and Harrods. 

Unfortunately the UK importers needed to check this new product out with the UK wine authorities before it could be imported. The query was referred to the French authorities who spent some time considering whether it was a product that could be sold. Unfortunately Aynard and Isabelle were informed by magnificently bureaucratic fax on Monday (31st May) sent by tperson responsible for le Pôle Concurrence of the Consommation et Répression des Fraudes that their PetNat could not be sold either in France or anywhere else. The family could either drink all the 3000 bottles made (vive la modération!) or it could be turned into wine vinegar or distilled.

Le Clos du Porteau PetNat, which is a VMQTA (vin mousseux de qualité de type aromatique) falls foul of the French rules on several counts: it contains Grolleau; it has 8.4% alc and has 7.3 bar.* Grolleau is not on the list of grape varieties permitted for VMQTA. Unless it is an appellation d'origine protegée, the level of alcohol has to be a minimum of 9.5%. Also for a pétillant the pressure must be between 1 and 2.5 bars.

The fax concluded thus:

'En conséquence, comme <<tout vin élaboré à partir des variéties à raisins de cuve visées dans les classements établis en application de l'article 120 bis, paragraphe 2, premier alinéa, mais n'entrant dans aucune des catégories établies à l'annexe XI ter >>, le produit dénommé <>, ne pourra être <> (art. 113, quinquies, 3 du RCE 1234/2007, modifié par le RCE 491/2009).'

The Clos du Porteau has been promised a visit from agents of the Répression des Fraudes to ensure that this decision is respected.

* 7.3 bar seems to be very high not sure how you would bet a PetNat up to this pressure. 

   

Heavy rain in parts of the Cher today and some yesterday has brought picking to a halt.

2008 vintage@Clos Roche Blanche

Catherine Roussel, Clos Roche Blanche

Although many vignerons in the Cher are just starting to pick, the new streamlined Clos Roche Blanche is now well on the way to finishing.

Catherine: "We haven't picked today because of the rain – so no more T-shirts, sandals and thongs! But we have finished our Sauvignon, Gamay and the Pineau d'Aunis, so there is just the Côt and the Cabernet that remain.

"The Sauvignon is looking very good – no rot. Most of it is between 13%-13.5% potential alcohol with around 5g acidity. The last parcel was up around 14%. I would have preferred 12.5%-13% but still! Unfortunately, overall, there is only 22-23hl/ha but it has been dry in August and the recent wind has further reduced the crop.

The yield for the Gamay is around 24hl/ha – 13.5% alc and 5.5g acidity. Fortunately we picked this before the rain as Gamay is terrible for sucking up water. We have very little Pineau d'Aunis this year – just 9 hl/ha, so we have only made rosé. At 12.6% and 4.8g it should be well balanced.

"I'm disappointed by the low yields but the fruit looked great, so I can't complain! We will probably wait until Monday to pick the Côt and Cabernet, which is now ripe. It all depends on the weather but we are not in a rush."

Catherine thinks that one of the reasons for many producers picking later than them is that their yields are higher, so the fruit ripens more slowly. "I've heard reports of grapes now at 10.5%-11%. Also those vineyards hit by hail will be later, as the vines are stressed by hail damage and the grapes take longer to ripen."

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Aynard and Isabelle Clemont-Tonnerre

Isabelle Clermont-Tonnerre (Clos du Porteau, Saint-Georges-sur-Cher)

Isabelle was very enthusiastic when I spoke to her this evening despite it pouring with rain today.
"We started last Friday picking Sauvignon Blanc in a vineyard that overlooks the Cher on the 1er Côte. It's at 12.5% (see the analysis in Aynard's comment below) and the quality is superb with the flavours that we saw last year but with more weght. We expected to restart picking on Monday. Then it will be three weeks non-stop!

"The Sauvignon that we picked on Friday flowered on 11th June – the same day as a lys blanche in Saint-Georges – and we started picking 90 days later!"

Visited 25th March 2009

Aynard and Isabelle de Clermont Tonnerre

Pulley once used for operating the old vertical press

Marks cut into the tuffeau by ropes used to operate the old press

Aynard and Isabelle are particularly interested by Côt: a bottle of Vanneau Huppé 2005

(to be continued)

Monsieur le Maire@Château de la Grille

I was privileged to spend this morning with Christophe Baudry, the Maire of Cravant-les-Coteaux and a partner in Baudry-Dutour. We spent the morning visiting all the recent acquisitions of Baudry-Dutour, who are now the largest independent producers in Chinon. We started with a visit to Château de la Grille, which Baudry-Dutheil acquired right at the beginning of this year.

Baudry-Dutour winery@Panzoult

Château de la Grille, Chinon

(Full report to follow – hopefully tomorrow.)

Aynard de Clermont Tonnerre and Isabelle Bacot: Clos du Porteau

Yesterday afternoon I went to Clos du Porteau in Saint-Georges-sur-Cher owned by Aynard de Clermont Tonnerre and Isabelle Bacot. They are particularly interested in Côt, called Malbec in other parts of the world. (Again full report to follow).