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.)