4 August 2009

The line up

Back in the Loire arriving just in time to entertain Wink Lorch and Brett Jones of The Wine Travel Guides. They have been spending a few days in the Loire, which has included eating at two of the Loire's most interesting restaurants – C'Heu le Zib in Menetou-Salon and La Promenade in Le Petit-Pressigny. Both establishments I'm happy to report had met their expectations.

With a nice warm evening we are able to eat outside and take the opportunity to look at one or two bottles.

1986 Clos du Bourg Moelleux Vouvray Domaine Huet

We started with the 1986 Clos du Bourg Moelleux, Vouvray, Huet SA. As is so often the case with the Huet wines it is very difficult to judge the age of this wine from the colour, which is light gold – paler than you might imagine a 23 year old wine would be. Delicately sweet and beautifully balanced with crisp, precise acidity, this made a very fine apéritif. There was some discussion whether this really was a moelleux. It certainly wasn't demi-sec – too much residual sugar. My guess is that it has between 50 and 65 grams of residual sugar. This is, however, very much a guess as the acidity probably masks to sugar and makes the wine appear drier than it is analytically.

It is also I fancy an assumption that moelleux means sweet enough to drink with a dessert, which is often not the case. This, of course, underlines the stupidity of those who insist on describing all sweet wines as dessert wines.(I could go on at some length here but won't on this occasion.) This Clos du Bourg would be murdered by a dessert but as well as being a lovely apero would have been good with cheese, creamy pork and chicken dishes. It might also work well with sautéd Coquilles Saint Jacques.

2007 Montées des Roches, Saumur-Champigny, Domaine Saint-Just

With the simple warm salad of lardons and goats' cheese (from Epeigné-les-Bois) the surprisingly rich, supple and delicious 2007 Montées des-Roches, Saumur-Champigny slipped down a treat with the accent very much on its generous black fruits.

1999 Château de Villeneuve Vieilles Vignes

For the main course – plain roast chicken – we had a small, slightly lopsided vertical of Saumur-Champignys from Château de Villeneuve. Firstly the still youthful 1999 Vieilles Vignes followed by the fine 1997 Le Grand Clos. We discussed whether I had chosen to serve these two in the right order – given that the 1999 is still quite grippy, while the 1997 has more finesse and the soft, opulence that the flattering 1997s have always had. Although an argument could be made for putting the 1997 first, I think that as the 1997 Grand Clos has more complexity then it was better off being served after the 1999. However, the 1997 Grand Clos is not as good as the marvellous 1996.

1997 Le Grand Clos, Château de Villeneuve

For cheese we had two wines that included the one failure of the evening – the 1990 Château de Hureau Saumur Blanc 9Philippe Vatan), which was a bit oxidised and now past it. Brett kindly suggested that the 1990 was a painted lady with fading charms. I'm more inclined to feel that the wine's charm had faded. Not that this was in anyway Philippe's fault but mine for not drinking this earlier. His 1990 Saumur Blanc was a real revelation and an inspiration in the early to mid 1990s, showing what could be done with Saumur Blanc.

1990 Saumur Blanc, Château de Hureau

1994 Vin de Paille, Côtes du Jura, Alain Labet

Wink Lorch

Wink is a leading expert on the wines of the Jura and Savoie and she and Brett kindly brought along this 1994 Vin de Paille, Côtes du Jura from Alain Labet, a producer in Rotalier. Considerably sweeter than the Huet Moelleux, with its raisiny and nutty characteristics this is much in the style of an Italian Vino Santo. It was good with the cheese (Comté and some Gongonzola) as well as the raspberry tarts that completed the meal.

1990 Coteaux du Layon Saint-Aubin, Domaine Gaudard, Pierre Aguilas

With the raspberry tarts we also tried Pierre Aguilas' attractively honeyed and delicate 1990 Layon which was a good match with the strawberries. Pierre is now a grand fromage in French wine administration as he is now president of the Confédération nationale des producteurs de vins et eaux-de-vie de vin à appellations d’origine contrôlées (CNAOC).

The forecast is promising us a couple of fine days to enjoy the sunshine before rain sets in on Friday and Saturday.

The boys in brilliant white!: Arnaud and Yves Lambert@Salon des Vins de Loire 2009 with a bottle of L'Ardoisier, their sparkling red

The report on my June visit to Domaine Saint-Just is now complete – click here.

Arnaud drawing a barrel sample: June 2009

11 June 2009

Arnaud Lambert

After a good lunch at Le Pot de Lapin, Henri and I headed to Saint-Just-sur-Dive and the Domaine de Saint-Just run by Yves and Arnaud Lambert. The estate is a fairly recent creation – set up in 1996 by Yves, formerly a banker. Yves, who is a cousin of Régis Neau (Domaine de Nerleux in Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg) was joined by his son, Arnaud, in 2005 after he had finished his wine studies in Bordeaux. Increasingly we are seeing a new generation take over the reins: Arnaud looked after us, while Yves was operating the fork lift.

Arnaud barrel sampling

They now have 42 hectares of vines and at the beginning of 2009 they started to convert eight of these to organic viticulture. The Lamberts have also recently concluded a 50/50 agreement with the Comte de Colbert of Château de Brézé to run their 24 hectares of vines. Although the Château de Brézé makes red Saumur (Cabernet Franc), it is best known for its whites from Chenin Blanc as are much of the vineyards around Brézé. It is here that both the Foucault brothers and Antoine Foucault have their Chenin Blanc planted.

The vineyards and Château de Brézé

Like so many producers in the Loire, 2008 was a small harvest. "Our average yield was 35 hl/ha last year," says Arnaud. "The ideal figure for us is between 45-50 hl/ha."

Domaine Saint-Just

We taste various 2008s reds and whites mainly from barrel. Probably due to his commercial background Yves has always understood the need to make his red wines soft, attractive and approachable. This shows in the 2008 Saumur-Champigny range from the Yves Lambert through the more concentrated and structured Terres Rouges and onto the top red – Clos Moleton, which is matured in 500 litre barrels with a mix of new, one year and two year old barrels. Coulée de Saint Cyr, their top Saumur Blanc, has 10%-15% of new oak. The 2008 barrel sample had attractive apricot and white flower flavours.

Then on to their successful Crémant de Loire, which is proving to be very popular in China. 20 hectares is given over to the production of Crémant in the sandy vineyards around Saint-Dive. The blend is 60% Chenin Blanc and 40% Chardonnay, which spends two years sur latte resulting in an attractively citric, fresh and delicate sparkling wine with good length. They also make a creamy, strawberry flavoured Crémant Rosé – a blend of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The blackberry and raspberry L'Ardoisier, a méthode traditionelle rouge, completes the sparkling line up. It is soft with a hint of vanilla.The Lamberts recommend it with chocolate, vanilla ice cream and red fruits.

Then a look at some still wines including the precise 2006 Coulée de Saint-Cyr (Saumur Blanc), although it has less weight than the 2008. The 2008 Les Terres Rouges (bottled at the end of April) is sooty, slightly herbal and with a touch or two of green pepper on the finish. The black fruited 2007 Montée des Roches has more concentration – 50% matures in three and four use barrels, with 50% in vat. The 2007 Clos Moleton is soft, rich and concentrated and long, although a little cloying – probably needs more time in bottle.

We finish the tasting at the winery with the fine, rich 2005 Coteaux de Saumur – a mix of apricot and ripe citric fruit, especially orange peel. This is only made in favourable vintages – 1997, 1999 and 2001 were the previous vintages, although 2001 wasn't put on the market.

The amazing troglodyte cellars@Saint-Cyr

Then it's on to the amazing troglodyte cellars that they have at their home in Saint-Cyr, which date from the 12th century. Here we taste a couple of vintages of the Coulée de Saint-Cyr – 2004 and 2000. I particularly liked the balance of rich, honeyed fruit and freshness in the 2004, which demonstrates that the best years for Loire dry whites are often the difficult vintages. Finally two vintages of Clos Moleton – 2002 and 2005. The 2002 quite classic Loire with pencil shavings and freshness, while the 2005 is as you would expect considerably weightier, more concentrated and needing some more time.

Bread oven in the cellar complex

I look forward to seeing how the Lamberts' new venture with the Château de Brézé develops.