2008 Clos le Grand Beaupréau, Savennières, Domaine Ogereau

After our return from Lisbon, Friday night was the first opportunity to have an evening of Loire wines for some time. We made a start with the 2008 Clos le Grand Beaupréau Savennières from Catherine and Vincent Ogereau as the aperitif. This Savennières comes from the vineyard that they share with Claude and Joëlle Papin and Yves and Marie-Annick Guégniard. This 2008 still has a touch of buttery oak in the good mouthfilling fruit – the richness balanced by minerality. A lovely glass with all the precision associated with the 2008 vintage.

2009 La Cerisaie, Anjou Rouge, Domaine de la Bergerie

We then enjoyed the easy drinking, juicy red and black cherry fruited Anjou Rouge with the roast chicken. Very much a wine to enjoy with friends – not one to analyse at length and it worked well with the chicken helping the flow of animated conversation with our neighbour. Made from 100% Cabernet Franc this is best drunk young to enjoy its fruit.

2009 Coteaux du Layon Saint-Lambert, Domaine Ogereau

With the cheese I opted for this 2009 Coteaux du Layon from the Ogereaus. Delicately sweet it shows how versatile this style of Layon can be – it worked very well with two types of Gorgonzola – creamy and piccante. This 2009 has lovely balance with citric flavours along with some apricot and just a touch of honey – all set off by refreshing acidity. This 2009 will doubtless age well but I'm not convinced that there is necessarily much point in long cellaring as it is already showing well. Naturally this rather depends upon whether it closes up this year (two years on from the vintage) as Loire Chenins often do.

2009 En Chenin, Anjou Blanc, Domaine Ogereau

With the 2009 vintage Vincent and Catherine Ogereau have two new wines: En Chenin – an Anjou Blanc – and Harmonie des Bonnes Blanches, a Coteaux du Layon Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay.

Previously the Ogereaus had two Anjou Blancs: one that was bottled early and was a blend of 80% Chenin Blanc with an addition of 20% Chardonnay. "The Chenin-Chardonnay doesn't sell well," explained Vincent, "our clients are looking for Chenin. The En Chenin will also replace our Anjou Cuvée Prtestige."

The 2009 has quince and pear aromas with a hint of honey and mouthfilling fruit with an attractive mineral finish with some light wood notes on the finish. I'm pleased to see this change as Chenin-Chardonnay wasn't a great success and the 2009 version of this new cuvée is well superior to the old Anjou Blanc.

2009 Harmonie des Bonnes Blanches 

Harmonie des Bonnes Blanches will replace the Coteaux du Layon Cuvée Prestige. In a sense it will be second wine of the Clos des Bonnes Blanches. "We only make the Clos des Bonnes Blanches in the best vintages – so probably one year every two or three years," said Vincent. "We expect to make Harmonie almost every year and this will give us greater flexibility. The 2009 was picked at the end of October with a potential of 21˚. We have made a Clos des Bonnes Blanches in 2010 – 100 hls."

The 2009 Harmonie has a lovely purity of fruit along with a lightness of touch.  

Catherine and Vincent Ogereau; Joëlle and Claude Papin, Marie-Annick and Yves Guegniard

Although brief, it was a very successful visit to London this week by the stars of the Layon – both the meet the winemakers tasting and dinner at the RSJ Restaurant on Monday and then the small press tasting and lunch on the Tuesday. Furthermore the six Musketeers managed to get back to Anjou on the Tuesday night despite transport strikes in both London and France.

As Vincent explains here, they just managed to catch the train to Angers at Montparnasse by sprinting down the platform:

'Ier  mousquetaire : Claude (notre chef)

2ème mousquetaire : Yves, à 8 secondes
3ème mousquetaire : moi, à 10 secondes
4ème, 5ème et 6ème mousquetaires : Joëlle, Marie-Annick et Catherine, à environ 30 secondes.
Fermeture des portes du train : 10 secondes plus tard.'

At Montparnasse it's a long way from the Metro platform Line 4 (from the Gard du Nord – the Eurostar station) and the mainline platforms. Furthermore it is a bit of an obstacle course as you go up and down staircases.

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Six not three

Although I referred to the three stars of the Layon, it should really be the six as the women are very much part of the team. Indeed it is probably they who really keep the show on the road. They organised the trip to London, for example.

More reflections to follow later this morning.

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10.40 pm Rioja

Apologies my promise of further reflections this morning proved to be over-optimistic – mainly because I had a number of things to do before flying out to Spain mid-afternoon. I'm now in Logroño for the 2010 edition of Los Grandes de la Rioja.

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Anyway back to the reflections on the Layon stars' visit. Many on Monday night remarked on how different the three Savennières from the Clos le Grand Beaupréau were. Even though there are variations between the sites of each growers vines in the Clos – Claude and Joëlle's, for example, are at the top on the higher slopes, each producer's Savennières has a different personality.

Claude said that the better the vignerons the more marked are the differences from similar plots and that wines made by poor vignerons or those with high yields and who pick at the wrong time when the grapes are not flavour ripe the more the wines are similar.   

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At the Tuesday press tasting and lunch one of the older vintages included was the 1997 Anjou Villages Cuvée from Domaine Ogereau. This was the last year that Catherine and Vincent blended in their Cabernet Sauvignon with the Franc. It was showing wonderfully well with complex sweet and spicy fruit, lovely texture and structure with soft tannins and a long finish. Amazing value given that this 1997 probably retailed for around 25-30 FF, so possibly around 4/5€. Put into a line up of Bordeaux wines I fancy it would be far from disgraced.   

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Cryoextraction

From a high point to a potential low one, I gather that there is a demand from a few of the Quarts de Chaume producers that the Quarts de Chaume syndicat should agree to allow the use of cryoextraction, which would help to concentrate the wine in difficult vintages. This would also mean that the grapes could be picked less ripe and thus not at optimum ripeness and would allow higher yields, so commercially more attractive.

If Quarts de Chaume really is a top Loire terroir/site and one must assume it is as it has both its own appellation and there have been two recent court cases to defend its reputation from the interlopers of Chaume, then it has no need of cryoextraction or other similar processes. 

I trust that the Quarts de Chaume Syndicat will ensure that cryoextraction has no place in their appellation. Equally I can see no reason why it should be permitted in the Layon, particularly in the village wines. Should the Syndicat mistakenly agree to allow the use of cryoextraction then this would be a real threat to the reputation of the Quarts de Chaume.

Any Quarts de Chaume producer who wants to be able to use cryoextraction to make their wines is very welcome to make their case here. Either by posting a comment or by sending me an email at budmac@btinternet.com  

Excellent comment from David McDuff on the Facebook link (http://www.facebook.com/#%21/profile.php?id=749237912) to this post:

'David McDuff Let's hope the syndicat votes it down. Quarts de Freezer would be a true travesty.' 

Last night a powerful bottle of 2003 Anjou Villages from Domaine Ogereau. made from 100% Cabernet Franc. Still young and very concentrated and, like many 2003 Loires, tastes as though it comes from considerably further south. A question of power rather than elegance. Still doesn't really answer the long-running debate over the longevity of the 2003s, although this does offer a pointer since it was still youthful and likely to continue to develop.

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News of another Porte Ouverte in May: 8th – 9th May

Domaine Aupetitgendre, Isabelle and Claude Aupetitgendre, 12 Rue des Fougères, Thoré, 37150 Civray de Touraine

Tel: 02.47.23.92.50
Email: vin-aupetitgendre@wanadoo.fr

Vincent and Catherine Ogereau, Domaine Ogereau

With a light dusting of snow when I got up around 5am and flakes still falling  there was a concern that our journey from London to Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay would prove difficult. Fortunately the fears were groundless and we arrived at Domaine Ogereau almost on the stroke of 3.30 as arranged as, apart from the odd flurry of snow, the journey was uneventful. We were soon tasting with Vincent and Catherine Ogereau – a few 2009s with the rest from 2008 and 2007.

The news from Vincent and Catherine is that they are considering slightly simplifying their range dropping their Anjou Blanc Cuvée Prestige. In the future they will have two dry whites: their Savennières and Anjou Blanc sec, which will be pure Chenin with the Chardonnay that used to be part of the Anjou Blanc blend being used for their Crémant de Loire. They are also likely to simplify their sweet wine range. Again dropping the Cuvée Prestige and having the light and versatile 'generic' Coteaux du Layon Saint-Lambert and the single vineyard Bonnes Blanches. They would hope to make the Bonnes Blanches every year with less of an accent on the sugar and more emphasis on a refreshing citric character.

Stand out wines from the tasting:

2009 Rosé de Loire (60% Grolleau/40% Gamay)
Soft grenadine character with just enough acidity (malo fait) to carry it off.

2008 Savennières Clos du Grand Beaupréau

2007 Anjou Villages Côte de la Houssaye
Pure Cabernet Sauvignon with remarkable concentration in this difficult year for reds.

The still infantile 2009 Houssaye is already showing a lot of promise but there is a long time to go before it is bottled.

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Château Pierre-Bise

The next rdv was just across the Layon at Pierre-Bise with Claude and Joëlle Papin. Claude is running an experiment on not using sulphur on a small number of bottles of his 2007 Anjou Blanc Haut de la Garde. We started the tasting by comparing the 2007 without SO2 with one with the normal dose that Claude uses – both wines came from the same vat and were bottled on the same day. The bottles had been open for five days. The one with sulphur was a little more deeper – more golden in colour. It was also had more aromas with no signs of oxidation. When bottling Claude had used CO2 to give the unsulphured wine more protection. He is now carrying bottles around in his car to see how it will react to changes in temperature etc. An experiement to follow!

Stand out wines from the tasting:

2008 Roche aux Moines, Savennières
Honey and floral nose, lovely concentration and balance – one of those seamless wines where everything is in harmony. This was recently bottled because its malo started late – 75% complete. Unanimously our favourite wine.

2008 Schist Anjou Villages

More detailed notes on your visits to follow in the next week or so.
   

17th October 2009

2003 Anjou Villages Brissac, Domaine de Bablut, Christophe Daviau
1990 Anjou Villages Domaine Vincent Ogereau

Having started our Saturday evening with the 1982 Roche aux Moines, Savennières from Château de Chamboreau followed by a interlude provided by a bottle of Jacky Blot's Triple Zero, we moved onto a couple of Anjou Villages wines, which both showed extremely well.

2003 Anjou Villages Brissac, Domaine de Bablut, Christophe Daviau

Made from 100% Cabernet Franc, this has all the power and richness of a 2003 – sweet black fruits, soft but powerful structure, length and a lower level of acidity than is normally customary in an Anjou Villages. There are some that maintain that the 2003s will not last. As yet this shows no signs of tiring and I think it is likely that this 2003 will develop further.



1990 Anjou Villages Domaine Ogereau, Vincent and Catherine Ogereau
This was a real delight – a fine mature bottle showing at its best with soft, silky prune and figgy fruit, fully integrated tannins. 1990 is another vintage that has been attractive from its youth but yet has stayed the course. I'm not sure that this will develop further but it should happily last for at least another five years would be my guess. Probably made from 100% Cabernet Franc but may have had a proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon as this was before the Ogereau's bottled their Cabernet Sauvignon separately.

It would be interesting to taste these blind against some good Bordeaux and see how they fared. They are certainly more reasonably priced.

I caught up briefly with Vincent and Catherine on the phone this morning for a progress report on 2008.

Vincent: Overall the vintage isn’t too bad. We have been very surprised by how little there is – lack of juice in the grapes and small berries. However, the quality across the board – Rosé de Loire, Cabernet d’Anjou, Anjou Blanc Sec and the reds – is good. We finished the Cabernet Franc last Saturday. As it was completely ready we picked all of it in a day with a big team of 20-25, including university friends of Emmanuel (Catherine and Vincent’s son). The Franc had 13% potential and the acidity had come down to 4.8 gms – 10 days ago the it had been up at 7.5-8 gms. But the yield is only 20 hl/ha!

“On Thursday we finished the Cabernet Sauvignon in the Côte de la Houssaye – potential 13.7%. As far as the sweet wines are concerned we have hardly started – just two small passages through the vines with the grapes around 18% potential. The Chenin is now about ready to pick but it’s damp this morning and unfortunately rain is forecast for Monday and Tuesday. The pity is that if we had fine weather there is only about a week’s picking left.”

Vincent and Catherine with 2007 Coteaux du Layon
at the start of its fermentation (early Nov 2007)