Concealed bottles ready to taste
 

Today was the occasion to choose Le Master (Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine) for 2010. The almost unanimous choice was the 2010 from Charpentier-Fleurance in Le Landreau-Bretonnière.
 
Launched in 1984 the concept of Le Master was established in the 1980s when Donatien Bahuaud was still family owned. The final selection would be made by a panel of tasters including oenologists, journalists etc. with the winning wine sold under the name of Le Master. When Donatien-Bahuaud went bust and was bought by Grand Chai de France this practice ceased. However, when Ackerman bought the Donatien brand in 2009 from Gabriel Meffre, they decided to relaunch Le Master. Once more there is a super-jury that makes the final selection.

I was invited last year to judge but unfortunately was in the UK, so unable to make it. This year as the tasting is a bit earlier it was possible with an early start from Bléré-la-Croix by train to Nantes.

Just as last year the tasting, followed by lunch, was held at La Cigale, a café-brasserie that is a Nantais institution.

We had ten bottles of 2010 Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine to taste. Much of our work had already been done with a pre-selection process whittling down some 68 samples to ten.

My favourite wine turned out to be the overall winner – no 4 in the order. Next was Joseph Petiteau – Vigne et Saveurs and the third – Luneau Courtage, Vignobles Delaunay. I found Charpentier-Fleurance the best balanced with a lemony, mineral nose and good palate weight plus a long fresh finish. It certainly stood out in the line-up.

Tasters@work

All the stress of collating the results!

La Cigale: outside and the bar inside

Shellfish stall outside La Cigale

Preparing oysters

Bernard Jacob, director-general of Ackerman

Charpentier-Fleurance

La Bretonnière 
44430 Le Landreau
Tel: 02 40 06 43 39 

Looking across the Marais towards the city of Nantes

A report in Presse Ocean here on the unknown Marais de Goulaine, the area of marshland on the south side of the Loire to the east of Nantes. The Château de Goulaine, famous for its butterfly collection and its Muscadet, is on the western edge of the Marais.

'Le marais de Goulaine reste encore méconnu. Le site vaut pourtant le détour. Plongée au coeur du poumon vert.'

Read the rest here.

Following reading reports yesterday in Presse Océan and Ouest-France of heavy rainfall around Nantes over the last few days with the Nantes by-pass closed through flooding, I decided to have a look at the rainfall figures on France-Météo for Nantes, Angers and Tours for the last three months of 2009.

October continued the year's dry theme with Nantes having 65.4mm (82.8mm average from 1971 -2000), Angers 49.8mm (60.6mm -av) and Tours 36.6mm (63.4mm). Rainfall for all three towns below average.

November was decidedly wet with Nantes having a whopping 181mm (85mm-av), Angers 122mm (61mm-av) and Tours 106.2mm (65mm-av). Rainfall for all three towns all well above average.

December remained wet in the west but drier in the east with Nantes having 105mm (93mm-av), Angers 79mm (65mm-av) and Tours 46.2mm (72.1mm). Tours notably well below the average rainfall.

Annual rainfall totals for 2009, admittedly with one day yet to go, are below the average. Nantes has 749.3mm (798.2mm-av), Angers 605.4mm (646.7mm–av) and Tours 526.5mm (694.1mm–av). The total for Tours is noticeably down on the average.

View near Le Landreau, Pays Nantais

Part report/ part comment piece here from Presse Océan that Muscadet may also be considering declaring its independence from Interloire. Not sure at the moment how formed based this report is. It would seem somewhat unlikely as the Nantais region is dominated by the négoce and Bourgueil's complaint is against the direction a négoce dominated Interloire is taking. If it made sense for the Vins de Nantes to join Interloire at the beginning of 2008 before the current economic crisis, it is difficult to see what circumstances have changed to make a withdrawal just two years later a sensible move.

It also ignores the fact that Bourgueil's declaration of independence is as much as cry to be heard than a genuine wish to try to go it alone.

Will be interesting to see if tomorrow's Interloire AGM in Nantes provides a way forward or instead deepens the sense of crisis.

Details of what looks like a fascinating festival and programme of events came through to me today:

'This summer the second performance of one of the world’s most astonishing free contemporary art concepts will take place from 5th June to 16th August 2009 in the Pays de la Loire in France.

From Nantes to Saint-Nazaire, the Loire river widens into a vast estuary, 40 miles long and two miles wide at its mouth; a fascinating territory shaped by wild, mysterious and untamed lengths of river and the remarkable heritage of an industrial port.

Each of Loire Estuaire editions, 2007, 2009 & 2011, gives international artists the opportunity to work within this unusual backdrop. Around thirty art installations, created by artists who have the experience and ability to create significant works of public art, will be built on site. Some are temporary; others will be permanent, drawing together a trail which will be open throughout the year. Estuaire is a political project, aimed specifically at spurring the foundation of the Nantes to Saint-Nazaire metropolis.

Both cities’ art and cultural venues take part in this creative emulation: Le Lieu Unique, the Fine Arts Museum of Nantes, (Musée des Beaux-Arts); FRAC (Regional Contemporary Act Collection of the Pays de la Loire), the historic castle of the Dukes of Brittany and Le Grand Café – art centre based in Saint-Nazaire. Furthermore, the 2009 edition will see Estuaire collaborate with Fontevraud Abbey, The Orion Castle and the Le Mans School of Fine Arts.

Loire Estuaire is a festive and fun event for everyone. In 2007 more than 760,000 visitors enjoyed the show. All works can be accessed* by land (on foot, bike or nearby parking). Whilst bus tours will provide an opportunity to take a closer look at the installations and the specially created river cruise is a journey of discovery of the river and its landscapes.'

Artists**

Ant Farm (USA), Rivane Neuenschwander & Cao Guimaraes (Br)
Atelier Van Lieshout (NL), Anthony McCall (UK)
Winfried Bauman (Ger), Vincent Mauger (Fr)
Tania Mourand (Fr), Claire Blanchemanche, Cal-Earth Institute (Fr, Ir, USA)
François Morellet (Fr), Céleste Bousier-Mougenot (Fr)
Damien Chivialle (Fr), Ernesto Neto (Br)
Gilles Clément (Fr), Tatzu Nishi (Jap/Ger)
François Delagnes (Fr), Olgga Architects (Fr)
Gino de Dominicis (It), Paola Pivi (It)
Anne de Sterk (Fr), Stéphane Thider (Fr)
Jimmie Durham (USA/It), Roman Signrer (Ch)
Alicia Framis (Sp), Antonin Sorel (Can)
Dré Wapenaar (Nl), Les fréres Chapuisat (Ch)
Janet Cardiff (B), Eric Watt (Fr)

In addition, permanent pieces which first appeared in 2007 by Daniel Burrren and Patrick Bouchain, Jeppe Hein, Ange Leccia, Erwin Wurm, Tadashi Kawamata, Kinya Maruyama and Flice Varini remain on display.

*Except for the Museum of Fine Art of Nantes/ discount ticket
** Subject to modifications

Further details here.

Yesterday’s edition of Ouest-France reports that François Fillon, France’s Prime Minister, is ready to speed up the project to build a new airport to the north-west of Nantes at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, 30 kilometres from the city. Work on the Aeroport du Grand-Ouest would start in 2012 for an opening in 2015.

Loire Atlantique, the current airport, is in the southern suburbs of Nantes and can’t be expanded further. The new airport would remove the noise of the flights from Nantes as well as providing scope for expansion. Further details about Aeroport du Grand-Ouest here.