1934 Domaine René Couly, Couly-Dutheil Chinon

The labels are recent as the wine was almost certainly stored in a limestone cellar without a label

It was a great privilege to be at yesterday's vertical of Chinons covering vintages from 1934 through to 2005 held at at the Château du Rivau and many thanks to those Chinon producers who provided some of their precious old bottles to taste. Definitely the most extraordinary wine was the 1934 Domaine René Couly. Although not the best wine I tasted in this vertical, it was remarkable for its longevity – this was no faded ghost at the feast of Chinons! Wisely the tasting started from the oldest to the youngest so this 1934 was our first wine.

The 1934 still vibrant and a good colour

What was immediately striking was how vibrant and relatively youthful the colour of the 1934 was. I'm sure that if served blind no-one would guess that this is a 77 year-old wine. Of course a little bricky but not brown. The aromas were spicy, fungal – mushroomy in an attractive sense with touches of sous bois, sweet evolved fruit on the palate finishing with quite marked acidity. Ready to drink now, this 1934 could be kept longer, unlike some of the later vintages (subject of another post/s.)

Pierre Couly (Pierre and Bertrand Couly) gave us flowering and vintage dates for all the wines. The 1934 vintage started on 6th October, which, although it would be considered late today, was around the normal time to start in those days. It certainly wasn't a late vintage.

This bison, from the trophy room at the Château du Rivau where we had dinner on the Thursday and who expressed some clear reservations about the possible condition of the 1934, was happily proved to be mistaken.

Bertrand Couly: Domaine Pierre and Bertrand Couly, Chinon

'2008 nous a révélé une très belle surprise, après un été maussade, les superbes mois de Septembre et Octobre avec vent asséchant d’Est et Nord Est ont concentré la récolte.

Le revers de la médaille : une toute petite récolte 30 à 35 hl/ha mais de très belle qualité. Les premières dégustations avant malo révèle des vins surprenants très droits et gourmands.'

The 2008 harvest was a wonderful surprise: after a miserable summer we had a superb September and October with a drying wind from the east – north-east, which concentrated the grapes.

The reverse of the coin is that we have a very small harvest of between 30-35 hl/ha but of very good quality. First impressions before the malo is that the wines are surprising – very precise and delicious.

Web: www.pb-couly.com

Frédéric Mabileau, St Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, Bourgueil and Anjou

Thomas Meunier: February 2008

Thomas Meunier (commercial director): “The fine weather held right to the end of the harvest and the grapes were properly mature. We are very happy, although it is a small harvest. Overall the average yield is 37 hl/ha. This compares to 47 hl/ha last year. Unfortunately we will only have a third of normal of Les Rouillères.

The reds already taste round though they have yet to go through the malo and the press wine is delicious. We expect that this will be the first year since 2005 that we have made L’Éclipse, which has just gone into barrel.

As last year we picked the Chenin for the Saumur Blanc in two sweeps through the vineyard. During the first on Saturday 11th October we picked the golden coloured grapes that were around 13% potential. Then we picked again two weeks later we had about 30% with noble rot and between 14.2%-14.5% potential. We are vinifying the same way as last year with 25% in new wood and the rest in tank.”

Web: www.fredericmabileau.com

Entrance to winery at Saint-Louard

(14 August 2008)
Couly-Dutheil used to be one of the main pillars of the Chinon appellation. Unfortunately family splits and legal action have recently left marked cracks in the plinth.

Couly-Dutheil was founded in 1921 by Baptiste Dutheil. In 1925 Baptiste bought part of the Clos de l’Echo, one of the Loire’s most famous vineyards, which was apparently once owned by the Rabelais family. The Clos de l'Echo, now 22 hectares and a Couly-Dutheil monopole, lies on top of the coteau just to the west of the Château de Chinon. Couly-Dutheil was developed and expanded by René Couly, who married Madeleine Dutheil. Later René’s sons, Pierre and Jacques, took over the running of the business, where in time they were joined by the 4th generation: first Bertrand, Pierre’s son, and then Arnaud, son of Jacques. Having completed his wine studies at Montpellier, Bertrand gained experience in Pomerol, Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Oregon before returning to Chinon taking charge of viticulture and winemaking at Couly-Dutheil.

The family problems appear to have arisen when Pierre reached retirement and, whatever the rights and wrongs of this very sad family feud, it has resulted in Pierre and Bertrand setting up on their own, based at Saint-Louard, a quartier in the western part of Chinon, while Jacques and Arnaud run Couly-Dutheil. Meanwhile there is extended litigation over dividing the vineyards and the monies up.

Bertrand was willing to talk to us about the rift. He seems perplexed and puzzled over what has happened. “I still don’t understand,” he tells us. “In 2005 I was not allowed into the Couly-Dutheil winery. I still own 42% of the company.“ Bertrand says that he has received no money from Couly-Dutheil. However, Jacques Couly says that Bertrand has received 650,000 €.

“Fortunately in 2005 a number of good friends in Chinon gave me grapes and allowed me to pay for them later. They also lent me their facilities to make wine. My father and I now have 13 hectares of vines – some in Beaumont-en-Véron. Recently the tribunal ruled that the 2 ha La Haute Olive, which is just above the Clos de l’Olive (3 ha), is ours and I hope that they will make the same decision over Le Clos de l’Olive.” At present there is 8 ha to come from Couly-Dutheil, with more vines still in dispute. Perhaps in time they will have between 30-40 hectares. Pierre and Bertrand now have a winery with a capacity of between 100-150 hls.

Michelle, Pierre and Bertrand Couly

Back in the tasting room we met up with Pierre along with Michelle, Bertrand's wife. It was very good to see him looking so well and cheerful as earlier this year it looked like he was about to die. In early April Pierre, due to have a hip operation, collapsed into a coma for a least a couple of weeks. It seems likely that the strain of litigation played its part. Thankfully he pulled through and has recovered well.

“Initially when we set up on our own we didn’t have the best terroir,” explains Bertrand, “so I had to make wines with soft fruit – ready to drink young. Excluding the small range of négociant wines from nearby appellations, they are currently making three Chinons: a rosé, a domaine red and Le V de Couly – so named because Vincent, Bertrand’s young son said that there was room to put a V into the name. The straight red Chinon 2007, bottled in February 2008, (€6.80) is easy drinking with light cherry and plum fruit with a hint of spice. Le V de Couly (€7), which comes from vineyards on the other side of the road to Avoine and Bourgueil from the Château de Coulaine, has more weight and structure. It was bottled in June.

As it would seem to be far too late to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again, I hope the legal process is concluded soon allowing all parties to get on with making and selling wine.

It would also be good to see Couly-Dutheil drop the nonsense that is the Clos de l'Echo Crescendo. As a famous vineyard Clos de l’Echo should be the grand vin and anything that isn’t up to scratch should go into a second wine or another cuvée. What would anyone make of a crescendo of Latour?

21st November 2008
Another perspective
I'm planning to visit Couly-Dutheil either in late December 2008 or early January 2009. Mainly to discuss their current projects and wine-making philosophy including their take on Crescendo – there will be no 2007 and I understand that it is very unlikely that Crescendo will be released in 2008. I would have been surprised if 2007 had been considered worth of release.

The visit will also be an opportunity to have another perspective on the unfortunate dispute that has riven Couly-Dutheil.

Pierre and Bertrand Couly, Rue de Saint-Louans, 37500 Chinon
Tel: 02.47.93.43.97
Email: coulypierreetbertrand@clubfr
Web: www.pb-couly.com

Couly-Dutheil, 12 Rue Diderot, 37500 Chinon
Tel: 02.47.97.20.20
Email: info@coulydutheil.com
Web: www.coulydutheil-chinon.com