Benoît Fouassier sampling his 2011 Sancerre 

I spent much of Thursday, all of Friday and small part of Saturday morning in Sancerre and Pouilly visiting as many producers as possible. I tasted juice and fermenting wine with a  number of the producers – all seemed clean with no off flavours. 

Here are comments from several Sancerre producers:     

Stephane Riffault – Domaine Claude Riffault

"We started on the 5th September and finished on 16th. Everything is picked by hand. We had to be very selective this year, especially with the reds, as grape quality fell away rapidly. On average the Sauvignon came in at 13% potential with an acidity of between 4.0-4.5 and with a ph of 3.20.   The Pinot Noir was between 12.5-13.0% potential with a ph of 3.40."

Benoît Fouassier, Domaine Fouassier:

Picking started on the 1st September and we finished on Wednesday 14th. For the white we had an average yield of 50hl/ha with potential alcohol between 12.5%-13%, acidity between 4 and 5 depending on the parcel and when we picked. The Pinot Noir was between 12.5-13% with a yield of 35-40 hl/ha. We had to be careful with the Pinot as there was rot, so it had to be picked over with the sorting table in the cellar. 

Benoît commented about the situation for some producers:  "Those who use artificial fertilisers or weedkiller their vines started to see rot in their grapes from the 15th August."

Certainly tasting the fermenting wines at Fouassier, who are now biodynamic, the wines were all clean and precise.   

Jean-Marie Bourgeois – the patriarch on the phone 

Jean-Marie Bourgeois, Domaine Henri Bourgeois
Tasted the 2011 fermenting wines with Jean-Marie on Friday. We went through much of the range from the Petit Bourgeois, their vin de pays launched back in 1995 (Sauvignon only at that time – a red followed later) through to MD and La Bourgeoise. As with Fouassier and Michael Vattan all the wines were clean and precise with differences between the parcels becoming apparent.  


Jean-Marie Bourgeois: 
"The secret of our Le Petit Bourgeois is that we always work with the same producers, who are serious, and we pay above the market price." We tasted two examples of 2011 PB – one from Faverolles-sur-Cher and one from Choussy, which is close to Oisly.    

A new Bourgeois cuvée?  

Jean-Laurent Vacheron

Jean-Laurent Vacheron: Domaine Vacheron

Jean-Laurent: This year it was very important to stop tilling/working the ground in our vineyards in July to let the grass grow and so absorb summer rains. We started picking on 1st September and finished last Tuesday (20th). There was quite a lot of rot in the Pinot Noir, especially at the end, so we had to be selective.

Ungrafted Sauvignon Blanc in the Vacheron's Clos just by Sancerre's remparts  

After a swift look round some of the vineyards we tasted the recently bottled 2010s – joined by Jean-Dominique Vacheron. Their range of single vineyard bottlings has been extended: Le Paradis (calcaire – caillottes), Chambrates (calcaire - thin soil), Guigné-Chèvres (Oxfordian limestone), Les Romains (silex - flint) and Pavé (argile-calcaire – clay limestone). At this stage my preferences among the 2010 was for Paradis, Guigné-Chèvres and Romains.

We also tasted the 2010 red Sancerre – attractive pure Pinot fruit – and the 2008 and 2007 La Belle Dame. The 2007 BD is drinking well now, while the 2008 needs time but has greater potential than the previous year.

 Jean-Laurent and Jean-Dominique Vacheron tasting their 2010 white Sancerres 

Jean-Dominique
**

Claude and Laurent Champault

Roger Champault et fils: Claude and Laurent Champault

Claude: "We were surprised by how well the vintage turned out because before the start we were worried by rot. We picked the reds first – those of the hillsides (clay and limestone) were healthy, while on the caillottes (pure limestone) there was more rot. The Pinot is around 11.5% potential alcohol with just under 5 acidity, while the Sauvignon is between 12.5-13.5%. Yields – 50 hl/ha for the Pinot and 65 hl/ha for the Sauvignon."

The 2010 Sancerre from Domaine Vacheron is very much in the style of the vintage – very clean grapefruit flavours and mineral. Arguably very much in the classic Loire style, although with more warmer vintages such as 2009, 2006, 2005 and 2003 it is not clear now if classic really has meaning now. I really like its clean purity but CRM finds it a little too austere.  

The Vacheron wines are imported into the UK by Stevens Garnier and this Sancerre is available from Waitrose at £18.79.

See previous post here.

I have recently received a review copy of Jonathan Ray's 64-page new book: How to buy wine – all you need to know to choose the right bottle every time published by Ryland Peters & Small £9.99

I was dismayed to read on the Loire page:

'Not so good for: Big, full flavoured reds. Forget it, there are none.'

Jonathan I'll give you that there aren't any Barossa style reds but there are plenty of full flavoured reds including some from your recommended producers such as Filliatreau and Vacheron (La Belle Dame).'

Very disappointing to see such nonsense continues to be written and published.

Although I had been expecting to serve this over the next few days, this got pressed into serve unexpectedly on Sunday night when a bottle of 1999 Amarone della Valpolicella was horribly corked. In the event this 2004 Belle Dame went well with some sirloin steaks from Duncan Fraser, a very good butchers in Inverness. Ideally the 2004 Belle Dame needs another couple of years but I wanted to see how it is developing. Deep coloured this has good concentration of black fruits and firm structure, although clearly not as rich as the 2003. It is more edgy: a more classic Loire Pinot Noir than the 2003 and, perhaps, the 2005 as well. Ought to keep for another good ten years or so, this is a real success for one of the more difficult recent Loire vintages.

Jean-Dominique Vacheron tasting in the family cellars

The Vacheron's Belle Dame comes from their silex (flint) vineyard, Les Romains, which is in the commune of Sancerre. The Vacherons are increasingly using large wooden vats to reduce the amount of oak in their wines.

Arrival of the Vacheron cavalcade in the vines near to La Moussière. Echoes of the presidential entourage with the motorbikes already returned to base

28 September 2009: Sancerre

The harvest continues in brilliantly warm, sunny weather. Indeed it is almost too warm – it touched 27˚C around 3.30pm – as the potential alcohol is shooting up. Very few producers that I have seen are bringing in either Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Noir at under 13% and there are stories of someone picking a parcel at 15.5%. Fortunately the acidity levels are reasonable – mainly between 4.5-5.5 g/l. I have tasted the juice in a number of chais and although rich, it appears well balanced with a freshness in the finish and good aromas. Certainly all the juice that I have tasted here is very clean – there is hardly any rot around, expect for those vines hit by hail. 

Hail and its effects is really the big story here this year. Like Menetou-Salon the vineyards of Sancerre, Chavignol and Bué were hit by three successive hailstorms – two in May and one on 16th July – the day after the Tour de France passed through the region. Although the recent good weather has produced very high quality grapes, producers hit by the hail will make much less than normal.

A trailer load of grapes entering Montigny

Some of Sancerre’s best-known names have been hit badly. Overall it looks likely that the Vacherons will be down in the low 20s hl/ha. Jean-Michel Fouassier reports 20hl/ha average in those vines hit by hail and only 35 hl/ha elsewhere due to a petite sortie and poor conditions for the Sauvignon during the flowering. This compares to 45hl/ha last year. “30 hl/ha,” says Jean-Marie Bourgeois. For Jean-Max Roger in Bué it’s around 25hl/ha, while for both Gilles Crochet (Lucien Crochet) and François Crochet the Sauvignon yield is around 30hl/ha, with Pinot Noir in the region of 35/40hl/ha. For Les Alphonses (Alphonse Mellot the yields are between 25-35 hl/ha depending on the parcel but as Alphonse junior points out this is about a normal yield these days for them." As the Pinot Noir flowered earlier, it was less affected by the poor weather in June that disrupted the Sauvignon Blanc flowering.

Sorting Pinot Noir (Sancerre)@Domaine Alphone Mellot

However, once you move away from Sancerre – Bué to Verdigny yields are normal: André Vatan in Verdigny reports around 60hl/ha and Pascal Reverdy in Maimbray estimates that his Sauvignon Blanc will be around 45-50hl/ha with the Pinot Noir at 45-50hl/ha. “We need to pick very quickly now,” says Pascal, “as the degrees are going up fast and I’m worried that the acidity levels will drop. It’s now a race – we hope to finish this week.”

Pumping over Grands Champs@Domaine Alphonse Mellot

Harvesting near Bué: October 2008

The Coteaux du Giennois and Sancerre will start picking from Monday, Châteaumeillant and Menetou-Salon will follow on Wednesday. The signs look good for the vines that have remained intact after successive hailstorms, a difficult flowering and attacks of mildew. The harvest is expected to last around three weeks. The forecast is for mild weather for the start of autumn.

Press release from Benoît Roumet, director of the Bureau du Centre - 19th September 2009:

2009 en Centre-Loire: les vendanges démarrent sous de bons auspices
'Avec une semaine d’avance par rapport à 2008, les vignobles du Centre-Loire ont commencé la récolte des raisins 2009. Après une année viticole compliquée entre les grêles à répétition, une floraison compliquée et les attaques du mildiou, les semaines précédant la récolte ont été plus propices à la maturation des raisins qui sont dans un excellant état sanitaire.

Les observations du réseau des parcelles de SICAVAC (laboratoire interprofessionnel des Vignobles du Centre-Loire amènent à des équilibres sucres/acides très proches de 2002 ce qui laisse augurer une belle qualité aussi bien pour les blancs que pour les rouges et les rosés.

Reuilly a, comme à l’accoutumée, dégainé ses sécateurs en premier dès le 12 septembre pour les pinots gris. Le lundi 14 septembre Quincy a démarré, suivi par Pouilly sur Loire le mercredi 16.

Lundi 21 septembre c’est Sancerre et les Coteaux du Giennois qui devraient rentrer dans leurs vignes suivis par Menetou-Salon le 23 et Châteaumeillant qui clôturera les bans 2009.

Les vendanges devraient s’étaler sur près de trois semaines sous une météo annoncée clémente pour ce début d’aurtomne.'

••

Vacheron cellars in Sancerre

Denis Vacheron, Domaine Vacheron (Sancerre): We will be starting on Wednesday with the Sauvignon Blanc. Our vines that weren't hit by hail look good but it will be a small harvest. This is partly because of the hail. Also there wasn't a grosse sortie and we had difficult conditions for the flowering in June, which provoked coulure. The Sauvignon is around 12.5% potential with the acidity still a little high but the figures aren't really important for us – it is the flavour that counts and the Sauvignon is not quite full ripe.

"We'll wait for the Pinot Noir as the skins are still tough – just needs a little more time. Probably all right for making Champagne but not for red Sancerre. We had a small amount of rain this week, hardly enough to wet the ground. An Englishman wouldn't even call it rain." Always the joker – Denis Vacheron!

Sancerre: August 2008

Denis confirmed that parts of Menetou-Salon have been so badly hit by the successive hailstorms that 95% of the crop and been destroyed and that there will be some producers who make nothing at all this year.

••

Jean-Marie Bourgeois (Domaine Henri Bourgeois) reports that they will be starting picking their Sancerre Pinot Noir, which is looking very promising, on Monday.