Last weekend Jean-Marie and Arnaud Bourgeois celebrated the first 10 years of their Clos Henri venture in Marlborough, New Zealand. Report in the local paper – Marlborough Express – here plus some photos of the celebrations.

Click here for a report of our visit to Clos Henri in November 2007. 

Tasting room

If your idea of Sancerre is a young, zippy lemony wine best drunk young then the rich and concentrated 2000 Le Chêne Saint-Etienne from Domaine Henri Bourgeois will comes as a considerable surprise. It has benefitted from imte in bottle to gain complexity including some honeyed evolved notes as well as some discreet buttery oak. Overall it has an excellent balance of rich fruit with enough acidity and freshness in the finish to stop it beng cloying. Definitely a food wine – I'm sure it would match most fish as well as being good with a chicken salad. 

For the story behind the venerable Saint-Etienne oak tree that was destroyed by a storm in 1993 and then used to make barrels for a short series of top wines from Bourgeois – click here.

The Naked Grape, 2009 Sauvignon Blanc, Vin de Pays de Charentais

I went along to the Waitrose press tasting today. There was a substantial number of wines to taste – some 225. Rather than try to taste a huge number I preferred to concentrate on the Loire and then taste a few from elsewhere.

First up was the Naked Grape 2009 Sauvignon Blanc. I know that the Charente isn't normally considered part of the Loire but it does have a connection that I knew nothing about until today. This 2009 Sauvignon (£6.99) is attractively grassy, crisp and well made. The Loire connection is Henri Bourgeois of Chavignol, who advise the growers of the co-operative and then select the vats that will be sold under the Naked Grape label.

2009 Fief Guérin, Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu

Waitrose showed two 2009 Muscadets: one from Sèvre et Maine, made by Grands Chais de France (Champteloup label - £5.99) and the other the Fiefs Guérin (£6.49) from the Choblet family in Bouaye. I thought the Fiefs Guérin was well worth the additional 50p as it has crisper, more vibrant fruit with an attractive salinity in the finish.

(More wines to add but it is time to get settled in to see the result of the UK's 2010 General Election.)

Postbox@the entrance to Clos Henri

In November 2007 there was a Circle of Wine Writers trip to New Zealand. Over two weeks we had a full and very interesting programme visiting producers from Auckland to Otago. Unfortunately it was impossible to include a visit to Clos Henri, the Henri Bourgeois property in Marlborough, into the Circle itinerary. However, I stayed on with CRM for the best part of another two weeks so we were able to visit Clos Henri after the rest of the Circle party had left New Zealand. This is the account of our visit.)

26^th November: We took the Trans-Alpine train from Christchurch to Greymouth. This is rightly billed as one of the great train journeys of the world. Christchurch station is well out of the centre and there do not appear to be any signs for it until you are almost there. The first part of the ride is across the flat Canterbury Plains. Then the train starts to climb up through the Alps with magnificent scenery on both sides of the train. The best place to take photos is out on the open viewing platform if you can stand the cold.

After hiring a car in Greymouth we headed north and stayed overnight in Murchison in a fairly basic motel.

27^th November: This started out a beautiful sunny day with an intensely blue cloudless sky. Another magnificent drive along almost deserted roads with a brief stop at St Arnaud to see Lake Nelson. Then we headed towards Marlborough to visit Clos Henri. Around 10-15 kilometres west of Wairau Valley we passed a substantial area of vines in the process of being planted.

On the road from Wairau Valley to Renwick, in New Zealand’s Marlborough region, 639 The Highway is Clos Henri. This is the New Zealand outpost of leading Sancerre producer Henri Bourgeois and, for the moment, is one of the most westerly wine estates in the Wairau Valley.

Tasting room@Clos Henri

In 2001 the Bourgeois family bought 90 hectares here – a combination of mixed gravel and clay on the flat and clay and loess hillside. Currently they have planted 34 hectares – mainly equal amounts of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir although there is a little Sauvignon Gris planted. Eventually the plan is to plant 65 hectares probably in the same proportion as in Sancerre – around 75% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Pinot Noir.

Unusually the viticulturalist is Japanese – Takaki Okada. He has been at Clos Henri since the start but took over responsibility for the vineyards two years ago. Damien Yvon, the winemaker, comes from Chinon and has an impressive CV having worked for Mouiex in Bordeaux plus Dominus in Napa as well as Campo di Sasso in Tuscany. Nelly France, from Lorient in Brittany and the sales and marketing manager, completes the on-site management team.

Every two months someone from the Bourgeois family is out to see how things are going. Lionel Bourgeois comes out to check on the viticulture, Christophe (or Jean-Christophe to give him his full first name) overlooks the winemaking, Arnaud the sales and marketing, with the patriarch – Jean-Marie – oversees everything.

Takaki and Damien explained that the approach here is between New Zealand and France. The planting density is considerably higher than the average in Marlborough – 5050 plants per hectare for the Pinot Noir and 4400 for Sauvignon Blanc, almost double the normal planting density in Marlborough though well short of the 8000 vines per hectare the Bourgeois have in Sancerre. Yields also tend to be lower than Marlborough average – 5 to 6 tonnes per hectare for the Pinot Noir and 8 to 10 for the Sauvignon Blanc. The customary average for Sauvignon Blanc is more like 10 to 12 tonnes per hectare.

As elsewhere, frost in the flat vineyards has become a concern. “Last year we used a helicopter but we have stopped using them as they are too expensive,” explained Takaki. “Because we are new here there were no helicopters at Blenheim available to us so we had to get one from Christchurch with a cost of $NZ4500 (£1,677.08) here and back. Then you have to pay on top for the time it circulates over the vines. We will be putting windmills everywhere. One of these cost $NZ45,000 (£16,770.80), so they soon work out cheaper than using helicopters.”

They also tend to pick later. “We want to avoid the green, vegetal flavours that we don’t like,” explained Damien. “40% of the Sauvignon Blanc is picked by hand and all the Pinot is. For the Sauvignon Blanc we use minimal skin contact and tend to ferment at a higher temperature than most. The average here tends to be low – between 10˚ and 12˚. Instead we ferment at between 15˚ to 19˚ even up to 20˚ if necessary. We leave the wine on the lees and bottle late.” The Clos Henri Sauvignon Blanc 2007 was only bottled recently.

“Some producers here do their first bottling at the end of May,” said Damien, “and a lot of the Sauvignon Blanc here is bottled in June. Generally very little lees ageing is done here.”

The 2007 Clos Henri Sauvignon Blanc has attractively round fruit with pineapple and tropical notes, while 2006 Pinot Noir is soft with ripe plummy fruit. The second wine of Clos Henri is called Bel Echo but is not available in the UK.

(Jumping ahead: tasting note on 2008 Pinot Noir, Clos Henri)

The amazing Craglee Lodge on the Marlborough Sound at 6am

Following our visit to Clos Henri we headed for Picton to take a water taxi out to Craglee Lodge in the Bay of Many Coves on the Queen Charlotte Sound. Just as we pulled out of Picton harbour on our 40 minute ride out to the lodge we were briefly joined by a couple of dolphins.

Tasting room@Clos Henri

This nicely concentrated, quite opulent Pinot Noir comes from Henri Bourgeois' New Zealand vineyard in Marlborough. Although still relatively young it is drinking well now with plenty of brambly black fruits. It has some structure but the tannins are soft, so it is certainly ready to drink now. It might improve further, although there is a risk its youthful opulence fading a little.

2008 Pinot Noir, Clos Henri

Entrance to Clos Henri, Marlborough

Drinking this wine brings to mind our visit to Clos Henri at the end of November 2007. See report here.

Last night we drank two wines from significant family producers – one from the Loire and the other from the Veneto.

The 2008 l'Elégance de Petit Bourgeois Sauvignon Blanc VDP Val de Loire was our crisp and refreshing aperitif. I asked CRM what she thought it was and her reply of 'Sancerre' would have delighted Jean-Marie Bourgeois. Petit Bourgeois is not a Sancerre rather it is sourced from contracted producers in Touraine – mainly in the Cher Valley. The Bourgeois keep a close eye on the growers and pay above the market rate to obtain quality grapes.

Stelvin closure

L'Elégance is the first Henri Bourgeois wine to be closed with a screwcap. Clearly this would not be news in Australia or New Zealand but the Loire continues to lag behind in its adoption of screwcaps when many of its whites, such as Sauvignon and particularly Muscadet, are susceptible to cork taint.

1988 Amarone

Dinner was partridge cooked en papilotte on a bed of mousseron and moistened with a little Morris Liqueur Muscat from Rutherglen, Australia. I cut the sweetness of the Muscat with fresh squeezed orange juice as well as give a bit of bite. The big, powerful 1988 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico, Masi Agricola was an excellent match. Unfortunately due to my recent cold-flu bug courtesy of the European Wine Bloggers Conference (probably should be renamed the wine buGGers conference!) I was unable to detect the wine's aromas. However in the mouth its soft palate, tarry, figgy and pruney fruit was ideal for my now recovering throat.

Bourgeois and Masi are both family owned and, although their production is quite substantial, the quality across the range remains consistent and impressive. Obviously they are not global volume brands but they are both significant players in their respective regions.

Jamie Goode

Which got me thinking again about Jamie Goode's post on WineFuture Rioja09: 9th November 2009.

'I don't think the future of the wine industry will be determined top-down by the famous people who currently 'lead' the wine industry.

'Instead, I think it will come from an under-the-radar movement of dedicated winegrowers who are prepared to understand the vineyards they work with and make interesting, authentic, characterful wines.

Very few of these winegrowers would be at all interested in a conference like this. They make wine not because they want to make money, but because they have to. These new great wines are made by people who see winegrowing as their vocation. Their focus starts in the vineyard and they work as naturally as possible. Typically, they prefer large oak to small, old oak to new, and concrete to stainless steel.

I am allowed to be provocative, I would say that Winefuture is about the old wine industry. The new wine industry will emerge from the corpse of the old industry. The secret revolution is underway.'

I'm sure that there is truth in what Jamie says and that there are many small producers making interesting and authentic wines but that is probably not enough to keep the market supplied. It is essential that a region has entry level wines that are true to their place and are well made. if that is not the case there is always the likelihood that new drinkers will be put off and go elswhere and not discover the interesting, authentic wines being made in the region. Although neither Bourgeois nor Masi concentrate on the entry level both have a sufficient volume of good wines at various price points that give the adventurous drinker the confidence to explore their regions further.

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

2008 Le Claux Delorme, AC Valençay and 2008 Menetou-Salon, La Tour Saint-Martin

It is always surprising how quickly a bad cork will destroy a wine. Last night I was looking forward to tasting and enjoying a bottle of Albane and Bertrand Minchin’s 2008 Menetou-Salon white. It was not to be – a badly corked bottle and this Menetou-Salon had only recently been bottled. Time enough for the malodorous cork to have done its worst and completely stuffed up the wine.

Fortunately I had a bottle of Albane and Minchin’s 2008 Le Claux Delorme, Valençay. 100% Sauvignon Blanc this is deliciously citric and zippy and was perfect with some large prawns and garlic chips.

The resolute stare Bertrand uses on suppliers of bad corks!

It is a pity that many producers in the Loire’s Central Vineyards, like Le Tour Saint-Martin, are not bottling at least their whites and rosés in screwcap. When I visited Henri Bourgeois last Thursday I watched them bottling their Petit Bourgeois white in screwcaps. “We would like to have more of our Loire wines in screwcap but as well as continuing resistance in France to this closure, you need much more storage space as screwcaps are more fragile than cork,” explained Jean-Marie. “They have to be stored upright.”

Le Petit Bourgeois being screwcapped: 18.6.09

Last night nearly 30 people attended another successful Monday night tasting and dinner at the RSJ Restaurant in London's Waterloo. It was good to see many regulars present but also some people here for the first time.

Aperitif:



2007 Sauvignon Domaine de Bablut, VDP Val de Loire (that very well known Sancerre!)
From Anjou but a vin de pays and from Christophe Daviau. Some weight but overall very typical of the 2007 vintage – clean and precise.

White:

The first two Sancerres were served by themselves without food.

2007 Les Pierris

2007 Les Pierris, Roger Champault et fils

The Champaults are based in the same hamlet of Champtin between Bué and Crézancy and this comes from vineyards planted on clay-limestone. This was many people's favourite wine of the evening, combining the purity of the 2007 vintage with attractive weight.

2007 La Vigne Blanche, Henri Bourgeois
Comes from vines planted on chaillottes – white limestone with very little or, in places, no soil. Decidedly austere and lightly mineral.

Served with first course: an assiette of fish with herb risotto and pepper coulis


2007 Le MD, Henri Bourgeois

From Les Monts Damnés (damned slopes), the steep, south facing slopes above Chavignol, this is one of the Bourgeois' best Sancerres, which ages well. Characteristically minerally and with more weight and length than Les Vignes Blanches.

Note that the spelling of Chavignol, the commune, is in larger print than Sancerre, the appellation. However, the difference is not as marked as it used to be.

2004 Les Culs de Beaujeu, François Cotat

Les Culs de Beaujeu is another steep vineyard above Chavignol but on the other side of the valley from Les Monts Damnés. On the evening the Cotat was a bit of a puzzle. Often the Cotat wines are quite rich, while this, admittedly from 2004, was quite austere and seemed to tighten up over time, although going back to it right at the end it had opened up more. A wine to carafe and give an hour or so to open up?

Red:

The reds: 1996 Vacheron, 2006 Côte de Champtin, 2007 Les Pierris

2007 Les Pierris, Roger Champault et fils
Light and charming wine with the accent on the fruit, which worked surprisingly well with the lamb. One to enjoy when young.

2006 Côte de Champtin, Roger Champault et fils

Another steeply sloped vineyard, this 2006 unsurprisingly had more weight and concentration but is currently less expressive than the 2007. Needs another couple of years in bottle.

1996 Domaine Vacheron in magnum

The Vacherons have long been one of Sancerre's top producers. This had wonderfully, seductive Pinot Noir aromas – autumnal undergrowth, mushrooms (French use the term – sous bois) and just shows what a decade or more in bottle can give.

All three reds were served with: roast saddle of lamb, fondant potatoes, Savoy cabbage, carrots and a red wine jus


Dessert: Lemon & mixed berry roulade

RSJ Restaurant, 33 Coin Street, London SE1 Tel: 020-7928 4554.

One of several completely empty stands well after the Salon opened at 9am – seems bizarre to pay the fees, which I gather are not cheap, to exhibit at the Salon and not to be ready when the fair opens at 9am

Screwcaps are still quite rare@the Salon

Although many Loire whites are delicate and susceptible to cork taint, It is still fairly rare, particularly away from the large négociant companies, to find producers using screwcaps. If the Loire was in New Zealand, all or virtually all Muscadet, Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé would be closed with a screwcap. The above picture shows the display in front of stand of the Domaine des Herbauges in Bouaye (Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu). The dynamic and forward thinking Jérome Choblet now puts his entire production in screwcaps.

Elsewhere Jean-Marie Bourgeois (Henri Bourgeois) told me that he had been surprised by how much resistance there still is in France to screwcaps. Not helped by sommeliers who harp on about the magic of drawing a cork from a bottle despite agreeing that the percentage of corked bottles is around 3%. Clearly they are concerned to guard the 'mystique' involved in drawing a cork.

A studious Joël Deniau on the Syndicat de Crémant de Loire stand

Arnaud Bourgeois (above) on the very busy Henri Bourgeois stand. Parts of the fair today were very busy, while others like the Saumur-Champigny section was much quieter. I saw fewer UK buyers than usual and as usual no UK wine writers apart from Loire obsessives like myself and semi-obsessives like Sarah Ahmed (the wine detective), Chris Kissack (the wine doctor,) Neil Fairlamb (Church Times) and teams from Decanter for the Decanter World Wine Awards and William Reed for the International Wine Challenge, there are no other UK-based journalists here.

Over lunch it was good to catach up with John MW and Nelly Salvi, who are based in Bordeaux. "Can you give me a shortish summary of 2008 in the Loire," asked John. "Easy," I replied "better than Bordeaux!" "That wouldn't be difficult," said John. It was also a pleasure to meet Alice Feiring before rushing off back into the fair to try and taste as much as possible and see as many producers as possible. Unfortunately 500/600 exhibitors in two days is not really possible.

Jean-Marie Bourgeois

The retiring chairman!
(11 August 2008: Sancerre trip)

From a rising star to a meeting with one of Sancerre’s and the Loire’s most influential personalities – Jean-Marie Bourgeois. Doubtless Sancerre’s current fame owes something to it being easy to pronounce in English. But it was people like Jean-Marie, Alphonse Mellot and the Vacherons that continued the pioneering work of their parents – Henri Bourgeois, Alphonse Mellot and Jean Vacheron – who established the fame of Sancerre and brought it to the attention of English speakers. Their parents established the name in Paris, while it was Jean-Marie and his generation who took Sancerre around the world. In 50 years the life of this small corner of the Berry in central France – with Bourges 45 kilometres south-west of Sancerre claiming to be the centre of France – has been transformed completely. At the excellent Maisons des Sancerre (www.maison-des-sancerre.com) a number of vignerons reminisce about these early expeditions to sell Sancerre in Paris.

I well remember the time I first met Jean-Marie. It was towards the end of October 1989, that famously wonderful vintage – both summer and autumn. On my way to Chavignol with friends we drove up through Bué – the autumn colours on the steep hillsides were breathtakingly beautiful. The Bourgeois were in the middle of their vendange tardive. Despite this not being the ideal time to receive a newly hatched journalist, we spent a memorable two hours or more with him.

Jean-Marie says he is now in semi-retirement but he is still traveling the world, including New Zealand to check up on Clos Henri, the Bourgeois outpost in Marlborough.

We started with a quick visit to the Bourgeois winery that is steadily making its way up the steep road out of Chavignol. Back in 1989 most of the Bourgeois operation – winery and offices – was crammed into one building. In 2000 work started on the new gravity winery, just above the old one. It is impressively hi-tech and functional – more functional than trying to buy wine bottles these days. "At the moment we have to order 6 to 8 months in advance,” Jean-Marie explained. 40% of the harvest is by hand, 60% by machine with all of the Pinot Noir picked by hand. They are now equipped for screwcap bottles.

For a company that now has 70 ha of vines plus contracts with other growers in various appellations such as Pouilly-Fumé and Quincy covering another 70 ha and a total annual production of around two million bottles I’m always impressed by the consistent quality of the Bourgeois wines throughout the whole range, from Le Petit Bourgeois Sauvignon vin de pays upwards.

Back in 1950 the family had 2.5 ha of vines along with goats, rabbits and vegetables. The area of vines had grown to 3.5-4 ha in 1956 when Jean-Marie (J-M) started working full-time. The previous year (1955) they filled 15,000 bottles. “An enormous quantity for those days,” J-M explained. “In 1957/58 we started making deliveries en vrac (in bulk) in a Peugeot van to Paris. In 1965 my brother built the first cuve (vat).

We asked J-M about the change from Pinot Noir to Sauvignon Blanc at the beginning of the 20th century. “Chavignol always had more white than red. Les Mont Damnés was white. Sauvignon Blanc was planted so that growers had two wines to offer – a red and white.”

Plaque outside the tasting room in Chavignol

We tasted various wines including their Clos Henri from Marlborough, New Zealand, starting with Le Petit Bourgeois – the first of their French wines to go into screwcaps. I picked out the racy, minerally 2007 MD, the rich and weighty Jadis 2006 from a parcel of old Sauvignon Gris vines on the Mont Damnés, which is vinified in barriques of 3 to 5 wines and bottled unfiltered. We also tasted the 2000 MD again – this time a little fatter than the one we had drunk the previous evening in Touraine. However, the powerful and concentrated Sancerre d’Antan 2006 from silex vineyards in Fontenay (just to the west of Saint-Satur) and in Saint-Satur itself from vines planted between 1935 and 1939 was my stand-out white. "The silex of Fontenay is purer and harder than that in Saint-Satur, which has more clay," explained J-M. "My father was born in Fontenay and also had vines in Saint-Satur."

I have never felt that the reds from Bourgeois are at the same level as the whites but I think that recent vintages are showing increasing promise. The rich and spicy 2005 La Bourgeoise (old vines on silex) needs more time but shows considerable potential. I also liked the soft and supple Clos Henri 2006 with attractive black cherry fruit. I wonder if making two vintages of Pinot Noir a year is paying off. It will also be interesting to see what comes from their recent Pinot Noir plantings on the Monts Damnés once they are established.

We finished with the late harvest 1997 Vendange Saint-Charles, which has to be labelled vin de table. Picked on 4 November it has rich, honey and apricot flavours. Saint-Charles has been made in 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1997 and 2005. Despite the frequent mists around Chavignol these late-harvest wines are from grapes dried by the sun on the vine (passerillage) rather than botrytis. Depending on the vineyard site there are a few botyrtis late-harvest wines made in Sancerre by other producers.

Tasting over, Jean-Marie joined Sarah and I for a glass of Champagne in his son’s new hotel in Chavignol – the subject of the next post.

Domaine Henri Bourgeois, Chavignol, 18300 Sancerre. Tel: 02.48.78.53.20
www.bourgeois-sancerre.com