Am very pleased to have received the following information from Florent Baumard relating to previous posts on cryoextraction and yields in the Quarts de Chaume :

'We just finished our harvest today, under sunshine.

I just had no time to reply yet to your mail.

These green grapes were not going to produce Quarts de Chaume of course. Although, the fantastic arrière saison we had, brought amazing botrytis all over the vineyard this year. I had never seen such conditions, and the wines (even from so so grapes should be very fine...)

Of course, only the adequate grapes are used for Quarts de Chaume, the others end up in non aoc wine, or remain in the vineyard. But with chenin blanc, the color of the grape is not sufficient to judge it's quality, but we will talk about it when you next come. 

And selection in all senses makes Quarts de Chaume.

I am now grown up enough to know what to do with my grapes, and to decide of the way to cultivate. If you had contacted me then, I would have explained the reasons and situation.' 

Naturally when I next visit Domaine des Baumard I will be posting a full account of our discussions. 

 

Domaine Baumard:  large bunches of green grapes: 28th September 2010

For a number of years Le Domaine des Baumard has been an ardent advocate of cryoextraction or cryosélection as Jean Baumard, Président d'Honneur de la Fédération Viticole de l'Anjou, prefers to call it. The Baumards have been allowed to use cryoextraction for their Quarts de Chaume. However, on the 27th September 2010 the Syndicat des Quarts de Chaume decided by an overwhelming majority that cryoextraction will no longer be permitted in the Quarts de Chaume.

A visit to the Quarts de Chaume on 26th September demonstrated why Domaine Baumard may have found cryoextraction such an attractive option, at least for some of their vines. I was utterly staggered to see by crop load and the greenness of the grapes on Baumard's vignes larges (widely spaced vines), having no inkling that the Baumard vines and grapes would be so radically different from those elsewhere in this prestigious appellation – ('Cette AOC se classe parmi les terroirs d’exception' – Interloire).

Indeed as I have previously admired this domaine and its wines I assumed that theirs would be very similar to those of the other producers in the Quarts de Chaume. How wrong I was!

Domaine Baumard: a mass of large, green bunches and dark green foliage (above and below)

Up to 20 bunches on a vine

Large bunches of green grapes

Domaine Baumard: the dark green rows in the middle are the domaine's 'vignes larges' planted on terraces. Their dark green foliage is in marked contrast with neighbouring vines

Other vines and grapes in the Quarts de Chaume (photos taken the same afternoon):

Noble rot already starting to develop

Widely spaced well ventilated, small bunches of much riper fruit

Much lighter foliage

A stark contrast, indeed! It is difficult to see how the grapes on the Baumard terraces (pictured above) could be used to make Quarts de Chaume without the aid of cryoextraction.

**

Following my visit to the Quarts de Chaume I put four questions to Domaine Baumard. 

a) Are the terraces entirely used for Quarts de Chaume or are the vines that are heavily loaded normally used for Anjou Blanc or another appellation?  

b) Will they all be used for the 2010 Quarts de Chaume or will any heavily loaded vines be declassified?

c) The vineyards of the Quarts de Chaume are subject to a ‘contrôle « à la parcelle » des conditions de production’. Have the vines on your terraces been inspected by the INAO this year and did they consider that your vines met the ‘conditions de production’?

d) From 2011 grapes destined for Quarts de Chaume must have an average potential alcohol of 18%. In order to meet this new requirement will you need to make any changes to the way that your vines on the terraces are managed? Or will you be seeking to overturn the Syndicat’s decision through the courts?

As yet I have received no answers from Domaine Baumard, only an email from Jean Baumard complaining that I had made a 'furtive' visit to their Quarts de Chaume vineyard and that my questions were akin to police questionning and that he had never been asked such questions by a journalist before.

Since Domaine Baumard benefit from the high reputation of the Quarts de Chaume appellation, I think these four questions are entirely reasonable. After all Jean Baumard has already been to court twice to defend the Quarts de Chaume's prestige against the ambitions of neighbouring Chaume and appears to be threatening to go to court again if the INAO accept the proposal to make Quarts de Chaume a grand cru and Chaume a premier cru.

While Domaine Baumard has every right to ignore my questions, I hope they will provide a response.

See previous posts about cryoextraction and the Quarts de Chaume here, here and here.