Clos du Porteau (Saint-Georges-sur-Cher): extended winery nearly ready

I have often wondered whether the famous internet site – lastminute.com (lastminute-panic.com?) – was inspired by the many French vignerons who rush to finish the improvements to their wineries in the last few days and hours before the harvest starts. On occasions it is more than some improvements rather a complete new winery.

The Clos du Porteau in Saint-Georges-sur-Cher is one example this year of the rush to finish. Aynard and Isabelle de Clermont-Tonnerre have extended their winery and will be adding a roof. The above photo was taken on Saturday morning. They plan to start picking on Tuesday!

Aynard – despite the approaching vintage he seemed pretty relaxed

 

Ripening  Grolleau Noir

Grolleau Gris

 

Sylvain Martinez with his 2008 Goutte d'O 

I was very impressed with Sylvain's 2007 Goutte d'O (100% Chenin) when I tasted it in the UK, where it is imported by Les Caves de Pyrène, so it was good to meet him at the Renaissance tasting in Angers (31st January).

Sylvain is very much a 'boutique' producer with just two hectares of vines and is based in Chemellier in the Aubance between Brissac-Quincé and Saint-Georges-les-Sept-Voies. On tasting the 2008 Goutte d'Or I'm a little less convinced than I was with the 2007. The nose is more oxidative, although the taste is clean and long. I expect I will probably get the chance to taste this again at Les Caves tasting in London next month. 

Traditionally Grolleau Noir has been the major component of Rosé d'Anjou but there are a number of the 'Renaissance style' producers making their Grolleau Noir into a red wine. I tasted Sylvain's 2009 Grolleau Noir, which is not yet in bottle. It has some attractive, ripe fruit – typical of 2009 – but is a bit rustic, which tends to be a characteristic of Grolleau Noir. Will be interesting to taste this once it has been bottled. Nothing wrong with a bit of rough trade – who needs sophistication all the time!

Sylvain Martinez   

13 Rue de la Croix Moron, 49320 Chemellier

Tel: 02.41.68.48.41

Christophe Daviau

After a fairly miserable day for much of yesterday in the Pays Nantais, it cleared up a bit when we moved eastwards to Anjou in the late afternoon.

Today started misty over the Coteaux de l’Aubance. Initially it promised to be fine once the mist lifted but blue skies soon gave way to clouds. I spent the morning with Christophe Daviau (Domaine de Bablut) looking at the vineyards that are now run biodynamically.

Cabernet Franc destined for Petra Alba (calcaire soil)

Cabernet Franc destined for Petra Alba
– note grapillons on ground bottom left

Now around 10˚ potential alcohol and 8˚ acidity the Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignons are at least a good ten days to a fortnight before they are ready to pick. There are signs of the start of some botrytis developing on the Chenin but it will be a while before they start picking.

Currently the team of vineyard workers going through the Cabernets are stripping off the grapillons (also called verjus) and dropping them on the ground. Grapillons are second generation bunches that ripen later, if they ever do, than the main first generation bunches. At the moment they are green, so easy to spot. Once they change colour they will be much more difficult to identify. If the grapillons are not eliminated, then they will give the wine green, unripe flavours.

A grapillon – unripe second generation grapes
that will make your wine taste green and sharp

In 1989, which had an amazingly fine summer and autumn, Didier Richou of Domaine Richou in Moze-sur-Louet made a small cuvée of Gamay from the grapillons harvested in late November or early December, which I believe had 13% alc.

Grolleau Noir

As rain was forecast Christophe didn’t pick yesterday instead getting the highly reputed mobile bottlers Brault to come. Amongst the cuvées bottled were the Coteaux de l’Aubance Grandpierre 2005 and 2006. Picking started again today with the Sauvignon Blanc (VDP de la Loire) being machine picked.

Sauvignon Blanc: VDP de la Loire

Machine picking Sauvignon Blanc