2007 Sancerre, Henry Natter

Crisp, grapefruit quite austere and very much in the 2007 style – très droit en Français. very refreshing, especially on a hot day.




2008 Les Perrières, Saumur, Domaine de Saint-Just
Clean and lemony, 100% Chenin Blanc that sees no wood. May take more weight with age. Would be a good match with a plateau de fruits de mer.



2006 Saumur-Champigny, Château de Villeneuve
Herbal, soft Saumur-Champigny with good concentration for Jean-Pierre's domaine wine. Delicious – one of those bottles that disappear with startling rapidity.

Family dinner for eight starting with Jacky’s Blot’s 2000 Extra Brut Millésimé La Taille aux Loups – nicely rounded out and developed from its additional time in bottle – some toastiness and a hint of honey.

The 2007 Château du Cléray Muscadet Sèvre et Maine was brilliant with the first course of prawns having both weight and freshness but without sharp acidity. There was some surprise that Muscadet can be this good. The 2007 can clearly be drunk with pleasure now but should happily last for a good five years.

A magnum of the 2006 Expression de Cécile Sancerre Rouge from Henry Natter was perfect with the baked salmon trout – the wine’s soft red fruits being a fine foil to the trout’s quite delicate flesh. An illustration of how good a medium-bodied Sancerre red can be with some fish.

Then with the Tarte de Cambrai made with pears following the recipe in Jane Grigson’s Fruit Book, we finished off the 1990 Vouvray Moelleux Cuvée des Deronnières from Pascal Delaleu Domaine de la Galinière in Vernou.

2001 Cuvée Prestige L’ Arpenty Chinon Francis & Françoise Desbourdes
Francis and Françoise are one of several wine-making Desbourdes in the village of Panzoult – a wonderful name and so Rabelaisian! Panzoult is effectively the eastern end of the Chinon appellation. Although there are a few villages further to the east that are within the appellation, I have yet to come across any significant growers there.

Certainly this is fully mature – a hint bricky and some mid-weight evolved, delicate fruit. Unlikely to improve further and best drunk within the next year.

UK importer: Yapp Brothers



Two Sancerre whites from Henry Natter (Montigny)
2007 Sancerre
2006 Cuvée François de la Grange de Montigny

Fascinating contrast of vintages here – the 2007 domaine all zippy, zesty, citric and mineral while the 2006 is more concentrated and powerful – more yellow plum than the citric fruits that are often characteristic of Sancerre. Admittedly the Cuvée François is from old vines and has more bottle age, even so there are marked differences between the two vintages. 2007 domaine makes an ideal aperitif, while the 2006 Cuvée François is best with food – many types of fish and most chicken dishes.


Web: www.henrynatter.com





1989 Coteaux de Saumur, Domaine de Val Brun
Lovely sweet wine from this great vintage and made at a time when Eric Charruau was taking over from his dad, Jean-Pierre. Also at a time when the Coteaux de Saumur appellation was being revived. Attractive, vibrant mid-gold colour with a fine balance of rich citric fruit including orange peel. Coteaux de Saumur is often in the citric register rather than the honey and apricot found in the Coteaux du Layon. Best sipped on its own or with some Stilton. Not had the best storage conditions but should be good for at least another 10 years, longer if stored in ideal conditions.

Web: www.valbrun.com

(8th October 2008)

Vines and the church@Montigny

The first time I met Henry and Cécile Natter was in the early 1990s. I forget the year – possibly 1994 – but it was a cold mid-January with visits in Sancerre with Tim Atkin MW and then I went on alone for a day and half in Pouilly. Henry, whose domaine is at Montigny at the far western end of the Sancerre appellation, was our first visit of the day. It was a cold, misty drive out from our hotel in Sancerre with hoar frost on the vines. The Natters had laid on a magnificent breakfast for us. Unfortunately we hadn’t been warned so we didn’t do the spread the justice it deserved we had already had a very undistinguished breakfast at our hotel. I remember being impressed with the purity and minerality of the wines, so it is strange that I hadn’t been back until this visit. Perhaps it is because the Natters are rather out on a limb in Montigny.

Vines and fields@Montigny

Invited on Monday to come back for lunch on Wednesday we imagined that it would be a simple meal with the harvest team but not a bit of it as, despite the harvest, we had a wonderful full five-course meal with the family – daughter: Matilde, sons: Auguste and Vincent.

The Natter family and their team of workers

Henry and Cécile Natter created the domaine in 1974. They now have 30 hectares including seven owned jointly by Auguste and Matilde. 90% of their production is exported with Europe as their main market. The Natter family are the only vignerons in the little village of Montigny that nestles at the foot of the ridge that carries the main road from Sancerre to Bourges. The Sancerre appellation touches that of Menetou-Salon here, with Menetou to the north of the main road and Sancerre to the south.

Vines on a steep slope@Montigny

Auguste, the eldest son, joined his parents full-time in 2004 having racked up considerable experience in various parts of the wine world: with Paul Culver in South Africa, Newton Vineyards in Napa and three years with Michel Rolland at Chateau Fontenil. Matilde looks after the marketing and communications, while Vincent, who is here for the harvest, is working at Château Vieux Robin in the Médoc.

We started with the crisp and lemony Domaine 2007 with characteristic mineral notes as an aperitif. Overall 2007 is a lovely vintage for fans of Loire wines but may be too austere for some uncommitted drinkers.

Then we drank the rich and concentrated 2006 Cuvée François de la Grange de Montigny Sancerre with the scallops. This cuvée comes from old vines of at least 50 years old. The wine is aged for 12 months in 50 hl wooden foudres and 1987 was the first vintage. Matilde had kindly fetched the scallops from a fishmonger in nearby Veaugues early that morning – and this is in the middle of the harvest! Veaugues is about seven kilometres east of Montigny.

If you have time and are travelling from Bourges to Sancerre, it well worth diverting off the main road just after Saint-Céols into Montigny and taking the much quieter and prettier road through to Veaugues and rejoining the main road just before Bué. This is a lovely drive through a mix of fields, vineyards and forests – particularly attractive with the autumn colours.

Sauvignon Blanc: Montigny

Every so often one of the family would get up from the round table and disappear either to fix the next course or to check on the harvest. “We started yesterday,” said Henry earlier, “and we have made a good start. The degrees are between 12 and 12.5, whereas last week they were at 11-11.5. The yields are fractionally less at 50-55 hl/ha instead of our normal 60. We try not to crop ate below 40 hl/ha as I think this puts the vines out of balance.”

Henry’s father was an English professor at the Sorbonne, who spent some time in Oxford during his son’s formative years. Henry was happy to reminisce about those times – Oxford, the River Cherwell and the Great Train Robbery, although none of us could at the time recall the exact date – August 1963. He recalled this father’s liberal approach to parenting and from the slight frisson around the table I sensed that Henry’s approach with his children had been rather more strict.

Henry also explained that his father was a friend of the father of Alphonse Mellot snr and he talked about the famous Maison de Sancerre in Paris that Mellot founded in the 1950s and which attracted many of the celebrities of the day.

Bell@the domaine

The Natters have four hectares of Pinot Noir. With the fish we drank the quite light but attractive Domaine Sancerre Rouge 2006. This wine straddles the divide between the very light traditional Sancerre reds and the much more structured and concentrated wines that an increasing number of producers are now making. It has a lovely spicy Pinot Noir character and rather more weight than you initially imagine. Their top red is a selection of the best juice and is called L’Enchantment – we were served the rich and soft 2005.

Henry Natter vines overlooking the village of Montigny

After lunch we went with Cécile and Henry on a brief tour of the vines up to the top of the ridge overlooking the village. “We are a little bit higher than Sancerre here,” explained Cécile. “Flowering usually occurs at the same time as Sancerre, while budbreak can be a little bit earlier. However, Sancerre is a bit warmer and the harvest here tends to be a week to ten days later – except in the exceptionally hot 2003 vintage when we harvested at the same time.”

If you are looking for a Sancerre producer to visit, who is off the main tourist drag, Domaine Henry Natter is cartainly one to try but you need to phone or email in advance. Open Monday to Friday.

Domaine Henry Natter, 4 Place de l'Eglise, 18250 Montigny
Tel: 02.48.69.58.85
Email: info@henrynatter.com
Web: www.henrynatter.com

The new hotel, bistro-bar and restaurant.

(11 August 2008: Sancerre continued)
I’m amazed that it was as long ago as 1993 that Jean-Marc and Karine Bourgeois opened their fine restaurant La Côte des Monts Damnés right in the centre of Chavignol in the tiny square and across from the goats’ cheese specialist Dubois-Boulay (www.dubois-boulay.fr). Jean-Marc, a son of Jean-Marie, learned his craft at some of the grand names of French cooking: La Côte Saint-Jacques, Taillevent et Apicius. I have always eaten well at La Côte des Monts Damnés – often memorably – and drunk some good bottles from the wine list that focuses on the growers of Chavignol, although a place is found for wines from other communes in the Sancerre appellation!

One of Jean-Marc’s signature dishes is the delicious first course – tagliatelle and fresh chèvre. It is so good that I’m tempted to have it each time I go. Fortunately from time to time I resist – otherwise I would have missed out on the risotto avec les huîtres tièdes or the delicate feuillete au crabe that I started with this time. Sarah went for the tagialelle and wasn’t disappointed. My rognons de veau were excellent and we both chose the pear soufflé.

I tried to order a bottle of 1998 Clos de Beaujeu Sancerre Blanc from Gérard Boulay, a very good Chavignol producer a little in the style of Cotat and who deserves to be better known. (Gérard is now imported into the UK by Vine Trail: www.vinetrail.co.uk) I tasted the 1998 last year and very good it was – some evolution but still with a freshness. Sadly the restaurant’s stocks have now been exhausted. Having had a glass of Champagne instead, we opted for the silky, spicy and delicate 2005 Sancerre rouge from Henry Natter, whose vines are in Montigny at the extreme west of the appellation bordering the start of the Menetou-Salon AC.

Early work on the new hotel at beginning of November 2007.

The big news here is that the once small restaurant has just expanded into a 12-bedroom hotel with a new restaurant, the old restaurant space having been transformed into a bistro. The hotel had just opened the day befrore our visit. Firstly Jean-Marc showed us the new kitchen area and then we sallied into the inevitable confusion upstairs with rooms still getting their finishing touches and piles of flat screen TVs waiting to be installed. It was difficult to judge properly, especially as some of the electrical supply had been turned off by the workmen, but there are some lovely rooms at a standard well above what is available elsewhere in Sancerre, with the notable exception of the chambre d’hôtes La Chancelerie in Saint-Satur. The strikingly patterned orange carpet in the corridors is, however, a brave choice. Rooms from €108-€180.

I hope the new hotel does well as Sancerre, which is popular with tourists and only a couple of hours at the most from Paris, needs some really good accommodation – somewhere to go for that special weekend. Until now the best hotel option has probably been the Hotel Panoramic, which as its name suggests has some great views over the vineyards of Chavignol and Verdigny. The Panoramic was taken over a few years ago by négociant, Guy Saget, and was given a much-needed facelift. Although considerably better than it was, the Panoramic remains a corporate business hotel.

La Côte des Monts Damnés, Chavignol, 18300 Sancerre. Tel: 02.48.54.01.72
www.montsdamnes.com