Benoît Fouassier sampling his 2011 Sancerre 

I spent much of Thursday, all of Friday and small part of Saturday morning in Sancerre and Pouilly visiting as many producers as possible. I tasted juice and fermenting wine with a  number of the producers – all seemed clean with no off flavours. 

Here are comments from several Sancerre producers:     

Stephane Riffault – Domaine Claude Riffault

"We started on the 5th September and finished on 16th. Everything is picked by hand. We had to be very selective this year, especially with the reds, as grape quality fell away rapidly. On average the Sauvignon came in at 13% potential with an acidity of between 4.0-4.5 and with a ph of 3.20.   The Pinot Noir was between 12.5-13.0% potential with a ph of 3.40."

Benoît Fouassier, Domaine Fouassier:

Picking started on the 1st September and we finished on Wednesday 14th. For the white we had an average yield of 50hl/ha with potential alcohol between 12.5%-13%, acidity between 4 and 5 depending on the parcel and when we picked. The Pinot Noir was between 12.5-13% with a yield of 35-40 hl/ha. We had to be careful with the Pinot as there was rot, so it had to be picked over with the sorting table in the cellar. 

Benoît commented about the situation for some producers:  "Those who use artificial fertilisers or weedkiller their vines started to see rot in their grapes from the 15th August."

Certainly tasting the fermenting wines at Fouassier, who are now biodynamic, the wines were all clean and precise.   

Jean-Marie Bourgeois – the patriarch on the phone 

Jean-Marie Bourgeois, Domaine Henri Bourgeois
Tasted the 2011 fermenting wines with Jean-Marie on Friday. We went through much of the range from the Petit Bourgeois, their vin de pays launched back in 1995 (Sauvignon only at that time – a red followed later) through to MD and La Bourgeoise. As with Fouassier and Michael Vattan all the wines were clean and precise with differences between the parcels becoming apparent.  


Jean-Marie Bourgeois: 
"The secret of our Le Petit Bourgeois is that we always work with the same producers, who are serious, and we pay above the market price." We tasted two examples of 2011 PB – one from Faverolles-sur-Cher and one from Choussy, which is close to Oisly.    

A new Bourgeois cuvée?  

Jean-Laurent Vacheron

Jean-Laurent Vacheron: Domaine Vacheron

Jean-Laurent: This year it was very important to stop tilling/working the ground in our vineyards in July to let the grass grow and so absorb summer rains. We started picking on 1st September and finished last Tuesday (20th). There was quite a lot of rot in the Pinot Noir, especially at the end, so we had to be selective.

Ungrafted Sauvignon Blanc in the Vacheron's Clos just by Sancerre's remparts  

After a swift look round some of the vineyards we tasted the recently bottled 2010s – joined by Jean-Dominique Vacheron. Their range of single vineyard bottlings has been extended: Le Paradis (calcaire – caillottes), Chambrates (calcaire - thin soil), Guigné-Chèvres (Oxfordian limestone), Les Romains (silex - flint) and Pavé (argile-calcaire – clay limestone). At this stage my preferences among the 2010 was for Paradis, Guigné-Chèvres and Romains.

We also tasted the 2010 red Sancerre – attractive pure Pinot fruit – and the 2008 and 2007 La Belle Dame. The 2007 BD is drinking well now, while the 2008 needs time but has greater potential than the previous year.

 Jean-Laurent and Jean-Dominique Vacheron tasting their 2010 white Sancerres 

Jean-Dominique
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Claude and Laurent Champault

Roger Champault et fils: Claude and Laurent Champault

Claude: "We were surprised by how well the vintage turned out because before the start we were worried by rot. We picked the reds first – those of the hillsides (clay and limestone) were healthy, while on the caillottes (pure limestone) there was more rot. The Pinot is around 11.5% potential alcohol with just under 5 acidity, while the Sauvignon is between 12.5-13.5%. Yields – 50 hl/ha for the Pinot and 65 hl/ha for the Sauvignon."

Jean-Marie Bourgeois

Had a quick Skype chat with Jean-Marie Bourgeois this afternoon about the weather conditions. As reported previously mildew and other diseases have been a problem this year with mildew attacking both the vine leaves and the grapes themselves. They have also suffered some hail damage from frequent storms but nothing like as bad as Menetou-Salon, parts of which have been very badly hit. This year's harvest will again be well below average in quantity.

At the moment everything is in advance. If they have decent weather from now on Jean-Marie expects that the harvest could start between 15th and 20th September, which would be about a week to 10 days earlier than last year. On the other hand, of course, if it is cold and wet, then the harvest will naturally be later.

The hidden control room in the Bourgeois winery where the Bourgeois triumvirate: Arnaud, Jean-Christophe and Lionel met to plan their harvest strategy

J-M B: 'En ce qui concerne les vignes, comme tu sais il y à eu plusieurs petites grêle, qui ont fait des dégats répétitif, de plus nous avons beaucoup de maladies, mildiou des feuilles et des grappes! en fait la récolte sera vraissemblablement de quantité faible, entre moins 30 à moins 50%, quand à la qualité pas de souci, nous avons beaucoup d'avance, les vendanges devraient être précose! Ceci vaut pour Sancerre et Pouilly mais pas pour Menetou-Salon, là ou la grêle à fait de très gros dégats!!!!'

Jean-Christophe Bourgeois – i/c vinification etc. Tasting the 2008 red Sancerre from barrel

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Jim's Loire is always happy to receive reports from producers throughout the Loire on the weather and how the vines are doing.

Benoît Fouassier (Domaine Fouassier, Sancerre): Quelques nouvelles de nos vendanges
'Elles sont terminées chez nous depuis mercredi dernier, le 15/10.

Nous sommes très satisfaits de ce millésime 2008 du point de vue de la qualité. Nous avons rentré nos sauvignons avec des degrés entre 12 et 14 et des acidités de 5,5 à 6,4. Le rendement moyen est de 52 hl/ha en sauvignon. Pour les pinot noir, les degrés vont de 12,5 à 13,5 et les acidités de 5 à 5,5. Le rendement moyen en pinot noir est de 35 hl/ha cette année.

En ce qui concerne notre conversion en agriculture biologique et en biodynamie, nous avons conduit 18 ha pour la campagne 2008 et cette année nous conduisons nos 55 ha de vigne en biodynamie. C'est un challenge passionnant et une autre approche de la viticulture.

PS : Je n'ai pas de photos de Michaël Ott en vendanges, dommage!

Benoît Fouassier (Domaine Fouassier, Sancerre): Some news of our 2008 harvest:
‘We finished the harvest last Wedndesday (15th October)

‘We are very satisfied with the quality of 2008. The Sauvignons came in between 12%-14% potential with acidities between 5.5 and 6.4 gms. The average yield for the Sauvignon was 52 hl/ha. With the Pinot Noir the degrees were between 12.5%-13.5% with acidities between 5 to 5.5 and an average yield of 35 hl/ha.

‘As far as our conversion to organic and biodynamic viticulture, we have converted 18 ha this year and we are now starting to convert the rest of our 55 ha. It is a passionate challenge for us and a different approach to viticulture.

‘Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of Michaël Ott (UK agent) harvesting. A pity!

Jean-Marie Bourgeois, Henri Bourgeois, Sancerre etc
A cautious assessment of the quality of 2008:
“Absolutely fantastic! We have been greatly surprised. However, the vintage is 20% of normal in quantity.

Jêrome Choblet, Domaine des Herbauges, Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu
“We finished the Muscadet on 29th September and harvested the Chardonnay on 29th and 30th. Because of the tiny harvest it only took us six days this year. We have had 18 hl/ha – we had thought to make 20-25 hl/ha but because of the lack of juice in the grapes the actual yield was lower. This is even worse than 1991 (overall the worst frost experienced in the Loire and western France in recent times). In 1991 we made 19.5 hl/ha. The average yield here in Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu is only 15 hl/ha. The overall average yield for Muscadet (Sèvre-et-Maine etc.) is 22 hl/ha.

“Although we were very stressed by our decision to wait for our grapes to ripen properly and to stop picking for a week after we found that our first grapes harvested on Monday 15th September were not properly ripe and with high acidity levels, the decision was absolutely right. We are very happy with the quality of 2008. Waiting that week extra gave us 2% more potential alcohol and reduced acidity, which had been at 8 gms but came down to between 5.6 and 6 gms. There is a lot of tartaric acidity and a lot is dropping out during fermentation.

“Because of the severe shortage of 2008 I can confirm that of all our large customers around the world Waitrose (UK supermarket) is the only client to whom we have guaranteed to supply. We have worked together for a long time and we have a long-term partnership – they will have UK exclusivity.”