Flowers and vines in the Clos Roche Blanche – Joe's type of vineyard 

I was very sorry to learn this evening that Joe Dressner of Louis Dressner Selections died last night after a long and remarkably courageous battle with a brain tumour that was discovered in the latter part of 2008. Joe chronicled this battle is The Amazing Misadventures of Captain Tumour Man – a humourous and often surreal blog. There is an appreciation of Joe by his son Jules here on the Louis Dressner site.

Unfortunately I never met Joe. It would have been good to have met this champion of many small, individual and exciting Loire producers. To appreciate why Joe was important you only need to look through the list (here) of producers that Louis Dressner imports into the USA and then to read on about the company and their philosophy. Also see a fine portrait of Joe by Bertrand Celce on Wine Terroirs.

2009 Gamay, Clos Roche Blanche         

Joe has long imported the wines of the Clos Roche Blanche (Catherine Roussel and Didier Barouillet) and did much to establish an enviable reputation for them and their wines, so it was very appropriate that I was drinking their delicious 2009 Gamay when I heard the news of Joe's death. Cheers Joe!

Mid-afternoon break for Noëlla Morantin's pickers – anti-frost device in background

Then back to work for the final row of the afternoon (above and below)

Dappled light in Clos Roche Blanche press house

Catherine Roussel: "We started picking the Gamay on Thursday and through yesterday, which was very hot – over 30˚C. We did have a thunderstorm on Thursday but fortunately we didn't have much rain although what we did have was very heavy. We finished picking the Gamay this morning. This year we expect it to be quite light as it is around 12% potential with 5.5 acidity. We plan to pick the Pineau d'Aunis on Tuesday." Hopefully Catherine and Didier will be making their delicious L'Arpent Rouge again this year.

2011 Gamay

Bertrand Celce has a fine piece here on the 2011 harvest at the Clos Roche Blanche on his Wine Tasting, Vineyards, in France. We must have been following each around!

Across onto the north side of Cher in the village of Monthou we had a quick look at Jérôme and Dominique Sauvété's Sauvignon Blanc.

Plenty of life in these vineyards

Dominique told us that they weren't quite ready to start as the acidity levels were still a bit high. She expected that their vintage would be starting this coming Monday.

2011 Gamay@ Clos Roche Blanche's block@La Tesnière

Quick visit yesterday afternoon to a few local vignerons (+ a vigneronne) in the Cher to get an idea of how things are shaping up and when picking is due to start.

Vincent Roussely (Clos Roussely, Angé) was putting in a last afternoon on the paperwork that threatens to submerge many producers. From today it will down to getting everything prepared for the harvest, which Vinent expects will start a week today. He's happy with his Sauvignon: a yield of around 35 hl/ha because of coulure during the flowering with 11.8-12% potential at present.

Vincent Roussely in his office keeping the paperwork at bay

Then we went onto La Tesnière (Pouillé*) to see Noëlla Morantin and Laurent Saillard. Both were very busy getting everything ready to start picking on Monday, although things could change depending on the weather. The Gamay and Chardonnay are currently at 10.5% potential.

On Friday the 2010 Terres Blanches (Chardonnay) and 2010 Chez Charles (Sauvignon) will be bottled making space for the new vintage. Both of the 2010s are looking promising.

Noëlla Morantin

Tomorrow afternoon we will be back in this neighbourhood for the start of the vintage at the Clos Roche Blanche. Unfortunately Friday's weather forecast isn't great – some thundery rain. Hopefully the forecast will be wrong or the pattern will change.

* I'm tempted to start referring to Pouillé-sur-Cher to differentiate it from Pouilly-sur-Loire but this may only add to the confusion.

More Gamay@La Tesnière