Chenin in the Clos Mosny (Montlouis – Jacky Blot) where picking started 7th September

A quick sweep through Montlouis and Vouvray yesterday afternoon brought mixed reports from the vignerons. Some happy and relaxed with the way the 2011 vintage is going, others describing it as difficult and likely to produce no more than pleasant wines. The one common factor appears to be the worry that acidities are low this year, so giving wines that may be a bit heavy and lacking some minerality.

Bertrand Jousset@work  

During our visit in Montlouis we saw Bertrand Jousset and Ludovic Chanson who were both happy with the way the harvest was going.

Bertrand: 2011 is much more relaxed than last year, which was a panic. We started about ten days ago and have picked the Chardonnay, Gamay and Grolleau as well as the Chenin for the sparkling. We are now picking the Chenin for the still wines. It is coming in at around 13.5% potential alcohol, although the acidity is a bit low. We will still be picking into next week.  

Ludovic Chanson considering 2011 Montlouis

Ludovic: "It has been my easiest vintage so far. We started on Monday 12th September. We have picked the Sauvignon Blanc and grapes (Chardonnay and Chenin) for the PetNat and some of the dry Chenin which is between 12.8%-13.2% potential. The yields are reasonable in 2011 – 35 hl/ha for the Chenin, 40 for the Sauvignon Blanc and 37 for the Chardonnay."   

Montlouis: wild ferment!

Sorting table Clos Mosny (above and below)

Clos Mosny: some rot

Clos Mosny – discarded grapes 

Report to be finished but first off to Chinon, Bourgueil and Saumur

 An appreciative spider on a bunch of Chenin Blanc@Vouvray

Vin O Naturel: Do Lise and Bertrand Jousset (Montlouis) have Irish connections? 

François Chidaine, president of the Syndicat des vins de Montlouis

Montlouis 2011
François Chidaine has announced that the harvest in Montlouis could start on Wednesday 7th September. Despite the cool July this is well in advance of normal. See report here in La Nouvelle République.


Bourgeuil 2011
I'm relieved to hear from Cathy Shore (Le Tasting Room) that the vineyards in Bourgueil seem to be OK despite the downpour last Saturday.


Note from Cathy: 

We were at Domaine de la Chevalerie with clients yesterday so difficult to get a real update however we did drive around quite a bit of the appellation and saw no particular problems in the vineyards.  Chevalerie is starting harvest in the next few days. 

We spoke to Mathieu Vallée of Chateau Yvonne in Parnay in the afternoon - he will be picking his 2 ha of Chenin today and Chateau de Parnay was bringing in Cabernet Franc from the Anjou estate (Princé).  Their new winery is looking very swish with a brand new Bucher press taking centre stage.

Lionel Gosseaume

Also from Cathy an update here on Lionel Gosseaume of Domaine de Pierre in Choussy (close to Oisly) in Touraine.

 

  

Pierre-Marie Luneau

Pays Nantais

The ban des vendanges was on Wednesday 24th August. La famille Luneau (Domaine Luneau-Papin, Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine: Pierre, Monique, Pierre-Marie and Marie) will be starting at 8am on 30th August.

Anjou-Saumur

Picking the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir for the Crémant de Loire, Anjou and Saumur Mousseux started on Tuesday 24th August.

Touraine

Big thunderstorm in the Cher Valley overnight. Lots of lightning with flashes continuing for a couple of hours. Some 15 mm (0.6 inches) rain recorded in Epeigné-les-Bois. More rain further east in the Cher – around 23/25mm at Mareuil, 32mm at Noyers-sur-Cher but only 15mm at Thésée and 9 at Saint-Julien-de Chédon. May well not be good news for the Gamay that tends to act like a sponge sucking up water and diluting the juice. A few showers continuing this morning, which feels decidedly autumnal. Fortunately the forecast for the next few days is better – sun and cloud and around 20˚C.

Jacky Blot's team (Domaine de la Taille aux Loups) carried out their first maturity checks on their grapes in Montlouis and Vouvray yesterday. I tasted the domaine's 2010s – Rémus and Clos Michet (Montlouis); Clos de la Bretonnière and Clos de Venise (Vouvray) that will be bottled in the next fortnight. All four cuvées looking very good – more akin to 2008 with precision and minerality than the richer 2009s.

Central Vineyards

Picking due to start in Reuilly and Quincy next week with Sancerre and Pouilly the following week – beginning of September.

Damien Delécheneau

Good post here by my fellow blogger Marc Vanhellemont.

'Tout ce qui roule sans moteur sera à l'honneur à Montlouis, samedi prochain 2 juillet, c'est la Fête de la Loire à Vélo. A 10h30, départ du camping de Montlouis pour une balade animée et contée jusqu'à l'ancienne école de Husseau. Sur place, nous proposons un atelier de découverte de la viticulture biologique, avec dégustation de vins (vente sur place) et de produits Bio, présentés par Pauline Souplet, magasin Biolinet à Montlouis. Animations proposées par La Maison de la Loire et balade en calèche l'après midi. Vous pouvez apporter votre pique nique et profiter du joli jardin derrière l'école ou vous régaler des fouées qui seront préparées sur place. A vos vélos, trottinettes, rollers, calèches, tandems.... ! Merci de faire passer l'information.'

More details here. http://www.regioncentre.fr/jahia/Jahia/AccueilRegionCentre/domaines-intervention/Tourisme/Loire-a-velo/La-Loire-a-Velo-en-Fete

2011 Chenin Blanc in Montlouis

Interesting interview with Olivier Flamand on YouTube here from Vinomedia.

Céline Champalou

After the Puzelats we headed westwards along the Loire past Amboise to Husseau where we saw Frantz Saumon and tasted his current range of wines. Next on to Vouvray and Domaine Champalou where we saw Céline Champalou as her parents – Catherine and Didier – were away in Lyon for a tasting and lunch at Bocuse to mark the selection of their sparkling Vouvray for a prize.

Sign@Frantz Saumon

Two empty bottles@Frantz Saumon inc a magnum of Morgon from Marcel Lapierre

We then had time for a quick visit to the new premises of Château Gaudrelle in Rochecorbon and see Alexandre Monmousseau. Alexandre said he was stunned by how quickly this year's grapes were developing. "I have to keep pinching myself to make sure that I'm not dreaming!" He made an interesting observation on the possible effect of the flowering before the summer solstice. "Normally the flowering isn't finished until after the summer solstice when the length of the days are already starting to decline. This year the vines will have an additional 20-25 days during the period of maximum light. We don't know what effect this will have."

Alexandre opening a Vouvray and checking the cork

In the cellars of Gaudrelle

Then it was back to Montlouis to see Ludovic Chanson, whose wines I first tasted at this year's Salon des Vins de Loire. Having tasted his full range I remain impressed, especially with his Montlouis. Clearly yet another emerging star in Montlouis!

Ludovic Chanson

Bertrand Jousset cultivating his vines near Husseau

Jean-Daniel Kloeckle of Les loges

Les Loges de la Folie ouvrent leurs portes le samedi 11 juin à partir de 18h00. Ca sera alors l’occasion de découvrir en famille la viticulture biologique mais aussi le travail soigné de leur jolie jument de trait dans les vignes du domaine ! Afin de se détendre et d’égailler vos papilles le domaine clôturera la fin de journée par un apéro BIO bien entendu !

Claude Aupetitgendre with his Montlouis methode traditionnelle

Claude Aupetitgendre is a vigneron in Civray de Touraine (AC Touraine) in the hamlet of Thoré just off the road from Tours to Vierzon (D976). Thoré is actually closer to Bléré than it is to the centre of Civray. He has 8.5 hectares here and has long grassed over his vineyards and aims for low yields.

In 2007 he entered into partnership Jacques Gozard to produce Montlouis from two hectares of vines near to Château de la Bourdaisière. They put together an association of 58 wine lovers – many from Paris but also some from further afield, Norway for instance.

The wines of Domaine de Montory are vinified in Lussault where this Saturday (7th May) they are holding an open day at 11 Vallée Saint-Martin from 10h-18h. 

 Claude with his sparkling Montlouis, Touraine Cuvée les Lys (Cabernet, Côt and Gamay)

Cuvée les Lys

Ludovic Chanson (Montlouis) with his PetNat – sans pagne

Following a tip from Christelle Guibert (Decanter magazine) I went taste Ludovic Chanson's wines yesterday afternoon. He has taken over the vines that used to belong to Alex Mathur, formerly Levasseur. In 2008 he worked in a partnership, which didn't work out, so in 2009 he went solo and his first vintage is certainly impressive with great purity of fruit. Yet another impressive producer in Montlouis! He is on stand J242.

(Further details to be added when I get back to London this evening.)

Ludovoc Chanson has 6.2 hectares – all Chenin except for 70 ares of Chardonnay and 80 ares of Sauvignon Blanc. The estate started its conversion to organic cultivation in 2006 and was approved in 2009. I was impressed by the purity and precision in Ludovic's wines and it was no surprise to learn that he had a great admiration for the late Stéphane Cossais. He has a couple of PetNats – one (Les Prions) made from Chenin and the other (sans pagne) from Chardonnay. Both are well made but I preferred purity and precision of Les Prions. 2009 Gavroche is an attractively ripe style of Sauvignon Blanc with a touch of spice. Of the three 2009 Montlouis I tasted – Les Cabotines (sec), Les Pêcheurs (demi-sec) and Safran (moelleux) – I was particularly impressed with Les Pecheurs (19gms of residual sugar) with its great balance of fruit and acidity.    

Ludovic Chanson

3 Chemin Creux, 37270 Montlouis-sur-Loire

Tel: 06.15.97.46.01 (mobile)

Email: ludovicchansonvigneron@gmail.com

Frédéric Plou of Closerie de Chanteloup (Touraine, Touraine-Amboise and Montlouis)

Good wines again from the Closerie de Chanteloup based just to the west of Amboise. I particularly liked the lightly honeyed and mineral 2008 Montlouis, the floral and quite soft 2009 Touraine Sauvignon Blanc and the gutsy 2009 Touraine-Amboise pure Côt (Malbec).

Jean-Michel Poiron and Maria Cascon: Domaine Poiron Dabin (Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine)

Domaine Poiron Dabin has 65 hectares of vines around Château-Thebaud. Their Muscadets spend 14 months sur lie, which Jean-Michel explains was the traditional way of making Muscadet until the law was changed in 1977 shortening the time the wines were required to be on their lees. I liked their weighty and lemony 2009 Vieilles Vignes as well as the complex and long flavoured 2004 Haute Resolution.

The Clos Mosny looking towards the château

Two previous posts finished off this afternoon: visit on 4th January with Jacky Blot to his newly acquired Clos Mosny and the tasting of 2009s at Couly-Dutheil.  

Jacques Couly

Jean-Daniel Kloeckle

While in Husseau on Saturday we also dropped in to the Domaine Les Loges de la Folie run by Valérye Mordelet and Jean-Daniel Kloeckle, who had a portes ouvertes over the weekend. 

I visited the domaine with Sarah Ahmed in August 2008 – see report on Jim's Loire here – and, apart from tasting some of their wines at the Renaissance event on the eve of the 2010 Salon des Vins de Loire, I hadn't tried the wines again. Apart from the Rosé Pétillant Naturel, a full range (mainly Montlouis) was available. 

My two favourite wines were the Perles Rares (21€), a sparkling Montlouis, and Velvet, a vin de table. The base wine for Perles Rares spends 18 months fermenting and aging in barriques followed by 18 months sur latte. This long maturation gives the wine a rich, honeyed character that is balanced with a long finish. Velvet (8.50€) is a juicy, easy drinking red – full of red fruits – made from a blend of 80% Gamay, 10% Côt and 10% Pineau d'Aunis. Very much a wine to enjoy with friends rather than to analyse. Although not mentioned on the label, Velvet is currently from the 2009 vintage.

Although the other wines are well made, the lack real zip and the excitement necessary to take them into the top rank of Montlouis. Still the domaine is only just over five years old and it is good that harvest is all by hand and that they are certified organic.       

Part of the cellar

Le Clos du Château de Mosny

We arrived at the Domaine de la Taille aux Loups just after Joëlle and Jacky had finished lunch. As we were the first of the afternoon callers we had time to chat to Jacky about his recent acquisition of Le Clos du Château de Mosny (AC Montlouis). This is quite a complicated story.

Around 2007, while chatting to a representative of Monmousseau, the sparkling wine company based in Montrichard, Jacky expressed an interest in Le Clos Mosny should Monmousseau ever be interested in selling. The rep had told that Jacky even though they had reps in 38 of the US states they were unable to sell their Montlouis there. Instead the grapes from the Clos were going into their sparkling wine range. This made little economic sense as they could buy grapes cheaper on the open market than they could be produced at Le Clos.

Soon the boss of Monmousseau contacted Jacky and they started to negotiate. However, just as they were about to sign in the latter part of 2007, Monmousseau pulled out of the deal. The 2007 vintage was short and Monmousseau were unable to source all their grape requirements, so they decided that it was best to hold onto their vineyards as business was then good. Needless to say Jacky wasn't best pleased!

The Clos: October 2010

Then, of course, in September 2008 the financial world virtually collapsed and the situation changed. In time Monmousseau got back in touch with Jacky and negotations started again in 2009. By this time Ackerman had become involved as they were looking to buy the sparkling wine side of Monmousseau, which is based in Montrichard. Ackerman were not interested in the vineyards and one of the conditions of purchase was that Monmousseau should dispose of their vineyards before the sale went through. Naturally Jacky was now playing poker with six aces!

Monmousseau was keen that Jacky should take the 2010 harvest from Le Clos Mosny but he wasn't interested. "The crop level was far too high," he told me. Eventually agreement was reached and Jacky signed the contract on Saturday 2nd October and I believe that the Ackerman's purchase of Monmousseau then went through the following Monday. Under the sale Jacky Blot has bought the company running the vineyard, which includes the various agricultural buildings. The vineyard, which totals 20 hectares – 12 in Le Clos and 8 outside – is in fermage for 19 years. At the end of the 19 years it will become part of the Domaine de la Taille aux Loups.

I'm delighted that the Clos de Mosny, which is on the road between Montlouis and Saint-Martin-le-Beau is now in the hands of a dynamic individual producer. There may well be possibilities for developing wine tourism here. Jacky intends to make a single vineyard cuvée from the best parcels of the Clos. "I'm sure not all of the Clos has the same terroir or potential for quality," Jacky explained. "I hope we can identify four or five hectares for Le Clos Mosny. This will be plenty for a single cuvée. grapes from the less good parts of the Clos will either go into Les Dix Argents or into Triple Zéro."

By this time customers were starting to turn up, so we tasted the range of 2009 Bourgueils (see a separate post to come) and departed with some 2009 reds along with a judicious investment in the new Triple Zéro Rosé.

Part golden Chenin Blanc@Montlouis 2008

From the www.les-loges-de-la-folie.com site:

'Portes Ouvertes au domaine

Bien sagement rangées sur les tonneaux, nos bouteilles de Fines Bulles, de Montlouis Sec, Demi-Sec, Moelleux et Liquoreux (millésimes 2008 et 2009) et bien sûr notre rouge Velvet, n’attendent que vous pour saluer vos papilles ! Elles seront accompagnées d’œuvres d’artistes (rien que pour vos yeux) et de mets raffinés (rien que pour le plaisir).

Au chaud dans la cave, le samedi 18 et le dimanche 19 décembre de 11 heures à 19 heures. L’entrée est libre bien sûr!

A tout bientôt !

Valérye Mordelet 
Jean-Daniel Kloeckle
21 Rue des Rocheroux, Husseau
37270 Montlouis sur Loire
Tél : 02 47 45 18 30
Port. : 06 60 88 55 26
 http://www.les-loges-de-la-folie.com/

••

Finalistes pour Les Jeunes Talents du Vin 

Certains coups de téléphone surprennent et, quand on a raccroché, laissent vachement, mais alors vachement contents ! Nous avons le plaisir de vous annoncer que nous sommes sélectionnés parmi les 3 finalistes de la Vallée de Loire pour le Trophée des Jeunes Talents du Vin, avec notre Montlouis La Nef des Fous Demi-Sec 2008. La cérémonie de remise des prix à lieu à Paris le 9 décembre. Nous croisons les doigts…

Plus d’infos sur www.lesjeunestalentsduvin.com/vin.html'

Congratulations!

Lynda's sparkling cake

The menu

Last night and early into this morning we had a great birthday party with Lynda at Hugo Naón's El Nacional in Bordeaux. The food was excellent, in particular the lamb grilled on the parrilla – the special Argentine grill that Hugo had installed in the restaurant and which is the centre piece of the cooking.

Champagne Nicolas Maillart to start

Derek and a glass of Maillart

Lynda


2009 Rémus, Domaine de la Taille aux Loups

Unfortunately Bordeaux doesn't grow Chenin Blanc, so Lynda and Derek had to import some 2009 Rémus in from Montlouis to the party's general approval. Although 2009 is likely to be less long lived than the very precise and classic 2008 Rémus, I think the 2009 fitted the bill better last night as it is rounder and softer than the 2008. It also went very well with the assortment of tapas and charcuterie served for the first course.

2007 Château l'Eglise, Montagne Saint-Emilion

The lamb

Santé!

2007 was a difficult vintage in Bordeaux with the wines not expected to have a long life. However, this softly textured 2007 and I suspect others are drinking well at the moment. This went very well with the delciously succulent lamb. An example of a wine that high not get a high score in a tasting but which was abolutely right for the occasion.

Digestif: 10 ans d'Age, Bas Armagnac, Francis Darroze

Back in August we had lunch at El Nacional and it was clear that there were some teething problems. These have clearly been sorted out as last night was excellent. I gather from Hugo that he is now doing 2000 covers a month, which is considerably more than he thought he would be doing at this stage in the restaurant's first year. Hugo will have to keep this level up as his girlfriend is expecting their first child due next July!

Hugo

 

Hugo and Derek

Young chef

Vivek Singh: Cinnamon Club

bottle chandelier

Jazz pianist who started the evening off

Some more pics:

Lynda and one of the servers

The amazing cake

Derek and Sue