Philippe Germain taking a sample of Anjou Blanc@La Roulerie 

 
At the end of May Philippe Germain (Château de la Roulerie in Saint-Aubin-de-Luigné) sent me samples of four of his recent whites: all Chenin Blanc – two Anjou Blancs and two Coteaux du Layon.

2010 Chenin Blanc (Anjou Blanc) 

Philippe is well aware that in a number of markets Chenin Blanc has higher value than Anjou Blanc so isn't afraid to emphasise Chenin Blanc on his 'basic' dry white cuvée. The 2010 is attractively fresh and lemony with a hint of honey in the mid-palate finishing cleanly mineral.

2010 Les Terrasses

The 2010 Les Terrasses has more weight, depth and length than the straight Anjou. Well balanced with quite marked acidity this needs a year or so to show its best. 

2010 Coteaux du Layon
 

Philippe makes two Layons: this 'basic' cuvée and Les Aunis. Once again here is a demonstration that concentrated sweetness isn't everything in sweet wines. The 2010 basic Layon makes a most attractive aperitif with its fresh citric sweetness and clean finish. This is a Layon to drink with sauced dishes – a pheasant or chicken à la normande (apple and cream) for example or with blue cheese even rich patés but certainly not with desserts. The 2009 Les Aunis is considerably richer with peach and apricot fruit, some honey but is more cloying lacking the fresh acidity you find in a 2007 or a 2010. It would, however, be a reasonable bet with a fruit tart or a fresh summer fruit dessert.   

Amboise

Promenade Gourmande de Limeray
Du 03/07/2011 au 03/07/2011

Participez à la 8ème promenade gourmande organisée par des vignerons de Limeray et le LIONS Club Amboise les Deux Vallées.

Organisée au profit de la recherche sur les cancers de l'enfant, cette promenade de 5km vous permet de découvrir les vignes en coteaux en 6 étapes gastronomiques : vous dégustez les vins de Touraine Amboise et Crémant de Loire autour de spécialités tourangelles.

A chaque arrêt, musique et ambiance garantie avec la présence de plusieurs confréries :

• confrérie des rillons et rillettes de Touraine
• confrérie du nougat de Tours
• commanderie des grands vins d'Amboise 
• commanderie des fromages de Sainte Maure de Touraine.

En soirée,  musique et grillades vous sont proposées.

Lieu :
Limeray
Renseignements :
Jacques Dutertre
02 47 30 01 25

dutertre-j@wanadoo.fr

***

Across the Layon to Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay

Ronde des Coteaux du Layon
Du 16/07/2011 au 17/07/2011

Le Samedi, participez au dîner spectacle et assistez au chapître d'intronisation de la Confrérie des Fins Gousiers d’Anjou.

Dimanche, prenez place au départ de la 17ème Ronde des Coteaux du Layon "Marche des Terroirs" : course et marche sont à l'honneur. Dès 12h30, les sportifs se retrouvent autour du vin d'honneur.
A 13h, sus au repas champêtre et à la dégustation de l’andouillette au vin blanc !
La fête continue de 17h à 19h autou d'un spectacle cabaret. Place enfin au dîner champêtre sous chapiteau et son bal dansant, le tout cloturé par un feu d'artifice.


Un week-end de détente et de bonne humeur à St-Lambert-du-Lattay !

Lieu :
Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay - Parc de l'Enclos
Renseignements :
Dominique Bourrigault (fête) Tél 06 70 11 42 96 - Noël Cailleau (course) Tél 02 41 78 42 00 - Michelle Ripoche (marche) Tél 02 41 78 44 26
www.destination-anjou.com

domi.bourrigault@wanadoo.fr

Looking across the Layon from Quarts-de-Chaume

Day 3 takes us from Rablay back to Chalonnes, where the Layon meets La Loire. We will pass by Saint-Lambert and along past the Quarts de Chaume, one of the Loire's most famous sweet wine appellations. Our lunchtime stop will be in the pretty village of Saint-Aubin-de-Luigné.

Château du Breuil@Beaulieu-sur-Layon

Nobly rotted grapes in the Quarts de Chaume late September 2010

Looking across the Layon Valley northwards towards Château du Breuil (white building on top of ridge)

 Ripening Chenin  Blanc near Pierre-Bise (above and below)

A few photos taken on 10th October 2005 in Anjou during that wonderfully warm, dry autumn.

 

  

Across the Layon: la douceur angevin!

Towards Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay

The Aubance 

Base of La Croix de la Mission, Saint-Jean-de-Mauvets

 

Domaine des Rochelles: La Croix de la Mission – Cabernet Sauvignon

On my return from Kent yesterday I found this sample from Philippe Fournier waiting for me along with a letter explaining what had gone wrong at the lunch on 18th November 2009 when he had been due to present his wines to a group of UK wine writers but in the event neither Philippe nor his wines were able to make the lunch.

We opened the 2007 Les 4 Villages last night with cheese – the same selection as we had with the 1969 Clos de Catherine we drank the night before and as good a match. Interestingly Les 4 Villages, although obviously much younger, is similar in style – moderately rich but not super sweet as the Domaine FL site explains:

'Les 4 Villages

Assemblage de différents terroirs sur Rochefort, Beaulieu, St-Aubin et St-Lambert. Tris de grappes en partie botrytisées, généralement entre 80 et 100 grammes/litre de sucres résiduels.'

Rochefort, Beaulieu, St-Aubin et St-Lambert are at the western end of the Layon Valley and are among those villages allowed to add their name to the Coteaux du Layon appellation.



The 2007 Les 4 Villages is a very pale gold with honey, citric flavours as well as pineapple and has the purity and precision that is typical of the lovely 2007 sweet wine vintage in the Loire. As well as being a fine foil for cheese, this would work well with patés and probably rich duck dishes. I must try this style of Layon with Pekin duck sometime. The 2007 would have been picked and started its fermentation during the very end of the Jo Pithon era as the split occured at the end of 2007 with its élèvage completed post-Pithon.

I expect taste some other wines from Domaine FL at the Liberty Wines tasting this week as they are FL's UK importers.

Previous postings on Domaine FL here, here, here, here and here.

It is not that often these days that I get to drink a 1969 Coteaux du Layon and this Clos de Sainte Catherine from Jean Baumard was both a lovely wine and very instructive. As so often tasted blind it would have been very difficult to say that this was a 40 year old wine: the colour was light gold with fresh honeyed flavours and clean, precise minerality. By no means super sweet – perhaps 50-70 gms of residual sugar but difficult to estimate precisely. It would have been a disaster with a dessert but was absolutely perfect with cheese: Roquefort, a Cornish brie and a Swaledale ewes milk cheese. The match with the Swaledale was particularly good.

It was instructive because the 1960s, 1970s and some of the 1980s was generally not a great time for Coteaux du Layon with corners being cut but Jean Baumard's 1969 showed that there were exceptions. In many ways this less sweet style of Layon is more versatile than the super-botrytised, super sweet cuvées, which can be a wonderful vin de contemplation - soit meditation but difficult to match with food.

River Layon at Rablay-sur-Layon

I have been meaning to comment on this remarkable Decanter tasting of Layons from the 2007 vintage, which appeared in the January 2010 issue. The tasting was held at Decanter's offices in London in early September and it underlined what a brilliantly successful sweet wine vintage 2007 is despite the poor wet summer. The wines have great precision and purity.

Out of the 50 wines tasted – four received a Decanter award (five stars – max number possible), 21 were highly recommended (four stars), 24 recommended (three stars) and just one was described as fair (two stars). 98% of the wines recommended – must be virtually unheard of for a Decanter tasting.

The following wines were the Decanter Award Winners: Domaine de la Petite Croix, Cuvée Victoria, Vieilles Vignes, Bonnezeaux (270g/l rs); Domaine du Petit Métris (Joseph Renou et Fils) Les Tetueresm, Chaume* (165g/l rs); Château la Varière (Jacques Beaujeau), Les Melleresses, Bonnezeaux (248g/l rs); and Château Pierre-Bise (Claude and Joëlle Papin), L'Anclaie, Coteaux du Layon-Beaulieu (220g/l rs).

Both Jacques Beaujeau and Claude and Joëlle Papin have been past winners of the Decanter World Wine Awards Loire Regional Sweet Wine Trophy.

* This would have been bottled before the 2007 Chaume appellation was annulled earlier this year by the French courts. In view of the controversy over Quarts de Chaume and Chaume , it is interesting to note that within the award winners and highly recommended there were five Chaumes and four Quarts de Chaume. One of the Chaumes was an award winner with no Quarts de Chaume in the top category. On this evidence if the consumer was confused by Chaume and Quarts de Chaume, they should not have been disappointed by the the quality from either appellation. Nor on this showing there is no evidence that producers in the Quarts de Chaume are making better wines than those Chaume, despite QdeC's superior terroir.

Near Beaulieu-sur-Layon looking across to Château Soucherie

During the discussion following the tasting, Decanter asked the panel 'why don't we hear more about Loire sweet wines?'. Unfortunately they then proceeded to illustrate why these wines are not better known by failing to highlight the tasting on the magazine's front cover instead highlighting a tasting of 2005 Riojas, where the results were much more patchy with only one Decanter award winner!

The tasting panel: Sarah Jane Evans MW, Andy Howard (wine buyer, Marks & Spencer), Margaret Rand, Stephen Skelton MW, Steven Spurrier and myself.

The church of Saint-Lambert in the distance

Ouest-France reports on the case of the young grape picker found hanging in a lean-to (un appentis de vigneron) in a vineyard in Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay. 28-year-old Aurélien was found on 19th October 2008.

It was originally assumed to be suicide but Aurélien has a number of serious wounds, so it was suspected that the hanging was designed to disguise a murder. Four people were subsequently arrested and are facing trial. Full report here in Ouest-France.

Botrytised grapes in Patrick's vineyard late November 2009 (photo from Patrick's blog)

Patrick has posted here a very positive report on the end of his 2009 vintage – stressing the importance of making a succession of tris. See here.

Cabernet Franc (Saumur-Champigny - 15 October 2009)

15 October 2009
Yesterday afternoon we wandered slowly from the Cher Valley to Brissac-Quincé in Anjou. Another lovely bright day but at least ten degrees colder than eight days ago. Yesterday saw the first frost of this autumn with the grass quite white in places. We stopped briefly at the beautiful little village of Candes-Saint-Martin – the confluence of the Vienne and the Loire.

Candes Saint-Martin: just as the two rivers join – the Vienne is the deeper blue and closer, La Loire lighter (above and below)



Houses in Candes Saint-Martin

Then we headed onto Turquant and cut up through the vines passed Souzay-Champigny and onto Saumur. Still plenty of Cabernet Franc to pick in Saumur-Champigny and the grapes continue to look good with no sign of rot, although a few of the berries are now becoming shrivelled. I imagine the degrees (potential alcohol) are now quite high.

Grapillons (3rd generation grapes) Important that these are not picked

Chateau de Villeneuve (Saumur-Champigny) – above and below

Bridge at Saumur

Saumur: the château and Cristal Hotel named after Le Père Cristal

The Loire@Saumur

Saumur: houses on the south bank of the island, which is divided by the two channels of the Loire

After Saumur we drove along to Doué-la-Fontaine and then through Martigné-Briand to Thouarcé (the small town which is part of the Bonnezeaux appellation). Then onto Rablay-sur-Layon, stopping a little before the village to take pictures of the sweep of the terraced Clos Sainte-Magdelaine, a noticeable landmark.

Clos Sainte-Magdeleine (Coteaux du Layon, Faye d'Anjou?)

Dropped in on Catherine and Vincent Ogereau in Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay to get a progress report on the harvest. They are now in their fifth week of the vintage and today and yesterday they have been picking for the Cabernet d'Anjou. At the end of last week and Monday it was the Anjou Villages, followed by their Savennières. They are worried that the forecast for next Tuesday and the following two days is for rain when what they really need is another 10 days or so of fine weather to finish concentrating the Chenin Blanc for the Coteaux du Layon. "The grape skins, especially for the reds are becoming fragile," said Vincent. This he puts down to the prolonged dry spell from June to the beginning of September, when it rained.

Looking at meteociel this evening it looks like the poor weather has now been pushed to Wednesday and Thursday, after which the high pressure returns. Anyway Vincent and Catherine will be doing a tri in their Chenin on Monday. It's still fingers crossed time for part of the harvest and so close to a very good sweet wine vintage!

Emmanuel, Vincent and Catherine's son, is currently on work experience at Domaine Serene in Oregon and you can follow the harvest there on their blog, which includes contributions from Emmanuel. He has been appointed chief grape taster as apparently the winery people don't go into the vineyards there (only the Mexican workers) and Emmanuel was the only perosn familiar with tasting grapes to decide if they are ripe enough to pick.

Then we headed to Brissac-Quincé and Domaine de Bablut, where we spent the night.

Have been at Decanter magazine today at a Decanter panel tasting looking at the 2007 vintage in the Coteaux du Layon including Bonnezeaux and Quarts de Chaume. The results will appear in the January 2010 edition of Decanter. There were some superb wines in the tasting, showing both the quality today of what can be made in the Layon and how good the best sweet wines from the 2007 vintage are – miraculously precise with a really thrilling balance of sweetness and acidity.

View from Decanter's dining room next to the tasting room

Decanter magazine is now housed in IPC's Blue Fin Building with a spectacularly sited tasting room overlooking St Paul's and the City of London with the Tate Modern in the foreground.

•••

Report on yesterday's lunch with Keith Prothero now finished here.

Vines in the Layon

Jeudi 23 juillet à 15h
Domaine de Juchépie, Faye d'Anjou, Maine et Loire

Rendez-vous en néerlandais le jeudi 23 juillet à 15h, découverte d\'un domaine viticole en agriculture biologique, approche de la vigne et de son terroir. Rendez-vous au Domaine de Juchepie chez Mileine et Eddy Oosterlinck à Faye d’Anjou.
8 €/personne, gratuit pour les enfants.

Mardi 28 juillet à 15h
Les vignes du Château de Bellevue
Cette merveilleuse demeure du XIXème siècle appartient à la famille Tijou depuis 5 générations. Partagez la passion du métier de vigneron et dégustez le cépage « Chenin » à travers quatre grandes appellations : Chaume, Coteaux du Layon, Savennières et Anjou Blanc. Une belle balade entre histoire, patrimoine et grands crus !

Rendez-Vous au Château de Bellevue, Chez Anne Et Hervé Tijou à Saint Aubin de Luigné.
8 €/personne, gratuit pour les enfants.

More details from: www.rendezvousdanslevignoble.com

Chenin Blanc developing nicely

Across the Layon

Across the Layon: early autumn colours

Spent the morning sorting out photos including these taken in the Coteaux du Layon in October 2005 plus one further north in the Lebreton's Croix de la Mission at Saint-Jean-de-Mauvrets.

Pickers' cars and vans

The weather was magnificent and I had never seen producers so relaxed during the harvest able to take their time and pick the fruit just when they wanted.

Claude Papin pointing out details in a vineyard in the Layon

Cabernet Sauvignon@Domaine Ogereau's Côte de la Houssaye

Cabernet Sauvignon in La Croix de la Mission

(28th December 2008)

As we had enough foie gras from the Ferme du Prieure in Pocé-sur-Cisse for a first course, so what to drink with it? I opted for the Baron de la Varière 2007 Coteaux du Layon from Jacques Beaujeau in Brissac-Quincé. This youthful, reasonably rich and honeyed but not over-rich Layon worked very well with the foie gras. Although I have to say that this foie gras was over-salty and nothing like as good as the foie-gras we bought in Loches market from Michel Dufour of Mouzay (02.47.92.37.23) on Christmas Eve which was really excellent. However, the range of duck patés from the Ferme du Prieure are very good. The Baron de la Varière 2007 was one of some bottles that we bought at the Foire aux Vins held in the Champion store in Faverolles-sur-Cher at the end of September.

This seems an appropriate moment to post a short profiile of Jacques and Anne Beaujeau and Château la Varière that I wrote for Decanter magazine earlier this year to mark them winning the Decanter regional Loire sweet wine trophy for 2008.

Loire sweet wine trophy
Château la Varière Les Melleresses Bonnezeaux 2005
Just across the road from the imposing renaissance Château de Brissac is the immaculately kept Château la Varière owned by Jacques and Anne Beaujeau. With its gravelled driveway and beautifully kept barn and other outbuildings this 100 hectare estate is one of the showpieces of Anjou. The property dates from the 15th century and the barn, one of the oldest buildings, serves as the red wine barrel chai, while a slightly more recent building is used for the whites – dry and sweet.

Having owned the property since 1850, the Beaujeaus are well established in Brissac. However, in comparison to some of the other local vignerons like the Daviau family at Domaine de Bablut in Brissac since 1546 and the Richous (Domaine Richou) present in Mozé-sur-Louet since 1554 they are newcomers.

When Jacques Beaujeau took over the family estate in the 1970s they had 45 hectares of vines. He has more than doubled its size. Also in 2002 Jacques bought the 43-hectare Domaine de la Perruche at Montsoreau in the Saumur-Champigny appellation. Perruche also produces Saumur Blanc, Coteaux de Saumur and Saumur brut from Chenin Blanc.

At Varière they make the customary range of Anjou wines in all three colours including a very good Anjou Villages La Chevalerie made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. In 2005 the 2003 won the DWWA Regional Loire Bordeaux varietal over £10 Trophy.

Jacques with the 2005 Les Melleresses, Bonnezeaux
(Unfortunately there wasn't time to take his picture in
the vines at Bonnezeaux, so this was
taken at La Varière in Brissac-Quincé.)

Early on Jacques bought a parcel of vines in Bonnezeaux appellation – one of two crus in the Coteaux du Layon. Bonnezeaux is about 10 kilometres south of Brissac. Quarts de Chaume is the other cru and both appellations are wonderfully well sited in relation to the River Layon for the early and extensive appearance of noble rot. Beaujeau’s parcel of Bonnezeaux is at the western end of the appellation on steep slopes just above the distillery of the small town of Thouarcé. Beaujeau makes two Bonnezeaux – Les Melleresses, the top one, is always the premier tri. Later in the 1990s he also bought a parcel in the Quarts de Chaume

2005 was one of those idyllic vintages when the autumn weather was so good that producers could wait until the optimum moment to pick. Normally, of course, harvest time is stressful and pressurised but in 2005 I have never seen the Loire vignerons so relaxed during le vendange..

“In 2005 the botrytis developed quickly and we picked Les Melleresses between the 15th and 25th October. The wine is vinified and aged in barriques here at Brissac. There remain around 220 grams of residual sugar per litre.”

We had two Bonnezeaux entered in the Decanter World Wine Awards tasting. The other was also Les Melleresses Château la Varière but from 2003. Although the 2003 is very rich and full, we preferred the balance and finesse of the 2005. Both are very fine and can be enjoyed now. However, they will live for decades and it is quite possible that as the richness of the 2003 mellows with time that it will long term be the greater wine. It will be fascinating to see how the two develop.

Looking towards Beaulieu-sur-Layon from south bank

Looking towards Beaulieu-sur-Layon from south bank

River Layon@Rablay-sur-Layon

River Layon@Rablay-sur-Layon
Japanese overtones I think

River Layon@Rablay-sur-Layon

Vines and colours at Rablay-sur-Layon

Pink château near Bonnezeaux:
its name anyone please?