The main focus of this tasting held at the RSJ Restaurant, London SE1 (tel: 020-7928 4554) was on Sauvignon Blanc away from the classics of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé.

2007 Sauvignon Blanc, VDP du Val de Loire, Domaine de Bablut

Aperitif: 2007 Sauvignon Blanc VDP Val du Loire, Domaine de Bablut, Christophe Daviau

There was a welcome glass of Christophe Daviau’s Sauvignon Blanc. Coming from the western part of the Loire in Anjou this tends to be richer, rounder with an accent on tropical fruit – certainly less citric and mineral than the examples from Touraine and the Central Vineyards.

As we were a small group this evening we all sat around one large table in the basement of the RSJ. This was certainly a format that worked well on the evening with people feeling that they were able to contribute more easily to the discussion than when we have larger numbers. It may well be that this is an alternative format that we can offer from time to time, although the price may have to be a little higher to cover costs.

We started with three wines served blind. Not with the intention to challenge people to identify the wines but to answer one question – which of the three wines do you prefer.

2007 Les Pierris, Sancerre, Roger Champault et Fils

The three wines served blind:

2007 Les Pierris, Sancerre, Roger Champault et fils
The Sancerre had attractive weight and richness with the wine benefiting from a year in bottle.

2008 Sauvignon Blanc, AC Touraine, Domaine Sauvète
This was quite aggressively catty aromatically – some tasters also smelt elderflower – with a lean and lemony palate.

2008 Le Petiot, AC Touraine Sauvignon, Vincent Ricard
A little more concentration and weight than the previous wine with grapefruit flavours.

Of the three wines there was a preference by one vote for Le Petiot followed by the Sancerre and only one supporter of the Sauvète. All of the 2008s in the tasting are likely to take on more weight over the next three to six months. Most of them have only been in bottle for a short time.

•••

Then we served the next three with the first course.

2008 Clos Roussely, AC Touraine Sauvignon, Vincent Roussely
This turned out to be the favourite Sauvignon Blanc of the evening with good richness balanced by a clean, grapefruit finish. This further confirms that Vincent is making some very good wines.

2008 Touraine Sauvignon No2, Clos Roche Blanche
Although well-balanced this has softer acidity than the other Sauvignons having gone through a malolactic fermentation.

2007 Quincy, Domaine des Ballandors
Once again we could see the benefit of a year in bottle giving the wine additional weight and texture with a refreshing citric finish.

First course: Goats cheese, asparagus and red onion tartlet

The voting showed the Clos Roussely as the clear favourite, followed at a distance by the Quincy and then the Clos Roche Blanche. However, there was a general feeling that these three wines found it difficult against the sweetness of the red onion.

•••

We paired two Sauvignon with the main course.

2007 Oneiros Domaine Sauvète and 2008 Trois Chênes, Vinccent Ricard

2007 Oneiros, Touraine Sauvignon, Domaine Sauvète
Oneiros is a step up in the Sauvète range from the straight Touraine Sauvignon. It has attractive gooseberry flavours and some richness.

2008 Les Trois Chênes, AC Touraine Sauvignon, Vincent Ricard
Recently bottled this needs time to open up, although concentration is apparent along with a mineral finish.

Main course: roast organic salmon, samphire, pink fir potato, roast courgettes and beurre blanc.

In the voting Les Trois Chênes was the clear favourite with several fence sitters in this round.

2008 Canaille, Gamay, AC Touraine, Vincent Roussely

Also tried with dinner 2008 Canaille, Touraine Gamay, Vincent Roussely. One of our frequent tasters remarked that a light red would be good with the salmon. By luck we had a bottle of Vincent’s Gamay that we had opened earlier to taste, so we were able to put this suggestion to the test. Indeed Vincent’s juicy, brightly red fruited and spicy Gamay went well with the salmon.

Dessert; iced ginger parfait, poached pear, chocolate sauce and almonds

Conclusions?: That you don't have to stick with the established classics from the Central Loire and that there are some very good producers in Cher Valley with Vincent Roussely and Vincent Ricard being particulalry commended. Like Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, these wines often benefit from some time in bottle to gain more weight. The VDP Sauvignon from Domaine de Bablut was also popular.

Last night nearly 30 people attended another successful Monday night tasting and dinner at the RSJ Restaurant in London's Waterloo. It was good to see many regulars present but also some people here for the first time.

Aperitif:



2007 Sauvignon Domaine de Bablut, VDP Val de Loire (that very well known Sancerre!)
From Anjou but a vin de pays and from Christophe Daviau. Some weight but overall very typical of the 2007 vintage – clean and precise.

White:

The first two Sancerres were served by themselves without food.

2007 Les Pierris

2007 Les Pierris, Roger Champault et fils

The Champaults are based in the same hamlet of Champtin between Bué and Crézancy and this comes from vineyards planted on clay-limestone. This was many people's favourite wine of the evening, combining the purity of the 2007 vintage with attractive weight.

2007 La Vigne Blanche, Henri Bourgeois
Comes from vines planted on chaillottes – white limestone with very little or, in places, no soil. Decidedly austere and lightly mineral.

Served with first course: an assiette of fish with herb risotto and pepper coulis


2007 Le MD, Henri Bourgeois

From Les Monts Damnés (damned slopes), the steep, south facing slopes above Chavignol, this is one of the Bourgeois' best Sancerres, which ages well. Characteristically minerally and with more weight and length than Les Vignes Blanches.

Note that the spelling of Chavignol, the commune, is in larger print than Sancerre, the appellation. However, the difference is not as marked as it used to be.

2004 Les Culs de Beaujeu, François Cotat

Les Culs de Beaujeu is another steep vineyard above Chavignol but on the other side of the valley from Les Monts Damnés. On the evening the Cotat was a bit of a puzzle. Often the Cotat wines are quite rich, while this, admittedly from 2004, was quite austere and seemed to tighten up over time, although going back to it right at the end it had opened up more. A wine to carafe and give an hour or so to open up?

Red:

The reds: 1996 Vacheron, 2006 Côte de Champtin, 2007 Les Pierris

2007 Les Pierris, Roger Champault et fils
Light and charming wine with the accent on the fruit, which worked surprisingly well with the lamb. One to enjoy when young.

2006 Côte de Champtin, Roger Champault et fils

Another steeply sloped vineyard, this 2006 unsurprisingly had more weight and concentration but is currently less expressive than the 2007. Needs another couple of years in bottle.

1996 Domaine Vacheron in magnum

The Vacherons have long been one of Sancerre's top producers. This had wonderfully, seductive Pinot Noir aromas – autumnal undergrowth, mushrooms (French use the term – sous bois) and just shows what a decade or more in bottle can give.

All three reds were served with: roast saddle of lamb, fondant potatoes, Savoy cabbage, carrots and a red wine jus


Dessert: Lemon & mixed berry roulade

RSJ Restaurant, 33 Coin Street, London SE1 Tel: 020-7928 4554.

Henry Natter's vines on the coteaux overlooking Montigny

Our last day in Sancerre and the Central Vineyards. Quite heavy rain overnight starting around midnight and continuing for several hours. Rather cloudy this morning. Activity around Sancerre started today from around 6am and now just before 8am there is a continuous drone of machines and the lights of vans and tractors moving around on the still dark hillsides.

Hand picking near Bué: 8.10.2008

Today’s visits: Sancerre: Vincent Grall, Alphonse Mellot, Domaine Fouassier, Roger Champault, Henry Natter; Menetou-Salon: Henry Pellé; Touraine: Henry Marionnet.

L'equipe Henry Natter – Henry Natter family and team

Once again there is surprise and satisfaction from the vignerons that 2008 is turning out remarkably well after the very indifferent summer.

First stop was a quick chat with Vincent Grall (see posting: Vincent Grall: vintage in Sancerre’s streets). Leaving Vincent we headed out to the vineyards just to the south of Sancerre to take pictures of Pinot Noir in the rather damp vineyards. Looking down across at La Moussière we could see a picking team busy in the vines. As I suspected this was an Alphonse Mellot team and, having established that Les Deux Mellots – snr et jnr – were both the winery at Sancerre we headed off to Porte César.

Alphonse Mellot

Alphonse snr – Salon des Vins de Loire 2006

As we left the vineyard it was good to see that the old cabane des vignes (stone vineyard cabin) in the vines at La Moussière is being restored. Sadly these stone cabins that were once a regular feature of many of the Loire vineyards are disappearing – abandoned and falling into disrepair. They belong to a time when people walked out to their vines – before the days of tractors and small vans.

La Moussière: Cabane des Vignes near Sancerre

Alphonse Jnr: “We are finishing La Moussière this morning and that will complete Sancerre. This afternoon we start on the Coteaux Charitois (Les Penitents). Because of the hail it’s a tiny harvest – only 12 hl/ha for the classic La Moussière Rouge. Two hectares of La Moussière were completely wiped out by hail. It is better for Generation XIX, Grands Champs and Les Les Demoiselles – 27 hl/ha, which is our normal yield for these wines. But we are happy with the quality.”

Tasting the juice, the colour is already dark. Everything here is picked by hand.

“For the white the average yield is 40 hl/ha.”

Alphonse, junior

Alphonse introduced me to Antoine Michon, the son of Thierry (Domaine Saint-Nicolas) – the star of Les Fiefs Vendéens. Antoine is doing a stage with the Mellots, so I get him to tell me about the harvest in the Vendée.

Antoine Michon: “We were hit by the frost of 7th April, so it’s a tiny production this year – only 12 hl/ha. We started on 13th September and will finish this week. However, the quality is very good with the Chenin up to 14% potential.”

Next we visited Domaine Fouassier (see post: Domaine Fouassier (Sancerre) to go biodynamic 15th October 2008) and then headed to Champtin:

Roger Champault et fils
(8th October 2008)
Late morning we dropped in on the Champaults in the hamlet of Champtin, which is just a couple of kilometres west of Bué. We saw Claude Champault and his father, Roger. Laurent, the other brother, was out in the vineyards.

A delivery of grapes – note conveyor

“We started last Thursday,” said Roger, “and there are about three days harvesting left.” While we talked Claude and a couple of workers were trying to fix the belt of the conveyor that takes the grapes into the press. Machines breaking down at vintage time are always a problem. So much of the equipment, like presses and conveyors, needed during the vintage is only used for a maximum of two or three weeks in the year. Only after their long lay-off to be used almost continuously, so breakdowns are inevitable.

Using conveyors means that the fruit is treated much more gently than pumping it in through a pipe. It is very noticeable how much more care now take over the handling of grapes.

Claude had time to let me taste some of the 2008 juice, which was very clean – just as it has been with all the producers visited in Sancerre and Pouilly. “We picked the Pinot Noir in Menetou-Salon yesterday,” said Claude. “We harvest about two hectares a day and I expect that we will finish on Friday. Yields are averaging 60 hl/ha.”

As we left Claude pointed out their shiny new Italian Defranceschi pneumatic press. Just a few more days work before it gets a long rest before the 2009 vintage!

View from south-west towards Champtin and its vineyards

Henry Pellé, Menetou-Salon
Following a memorable few hours spent with the Natter family, we headed off to Morogues to drop in on Anne Pellé and her son, Pierre-Henry, of Henry Pellé. They were in the middle of their harvest.

Pierre-Henry: “We started picking in Menetou on 30th September. We are taking our time waiting for fully ripeness. Our Sauvignon Blanc from Morogues is coming in at 13-13.5% potential. Our yields this year are 40 hl/ha for the Pinot Noir and 45-50 hl/ha for the Sauvignon.“

Anne and Pierre-Henry Pellé

From Morogues we cut across country avoiding the speedier route via Bourges and on to the autoroute. It was well worth the extra time – driving mainly through forests with sensational autumn colours. Cutting across country always emphasises the sheer size of France in comparison to the UK. We reached Soings-en-Sologne around 5.30 pm.

Henry Marionnet, Touraine
Henry and his son, Jean-Sébastien, were decidedly relaxed as they had finished their harvest.

Jean-Sébastien

The office at Domaine de Charmoise

Henry: “We started on Wednesday 17th September, finished on Saturday 4th October and harvested quicker than usual. The harvest is small – we were hit by hail on 30th May and the flowering was difficult – the Côt suffered from coulure. Yields for the Sauvignon are between 20-35 hl/ha with the Sauvignon Vinifera at 20 hl/ha. However, the Gamay is at 50-55 hl/ha.

“Although there was a little rot, the quality is very good. After the poor summer, the weather in September 2008 is proof that God exists!”

Henry recalled vintages when nature had destroyed the harvest. “In 1988 we were hit by hail in August, then in 1991 there was the April frost and we only made 2-3 hl/ha.”

Together Henry and I tasted various 2008 juices. The depth of the Gamay’s colour stood out – “similar to 2005 with a pronounced black cherry flavour,” said Henry. The Vinifera Côt was even darker – almost black, while the ungrafted Romorantin planted in 1850 was a floral and peachy. Only 10 hl/ha from 36 ares, the final wine will be fascinating to taste.

Romorantin: pre-phylloxera vines planted in 1850

Romorantin: pre-phylloxera vines planted in 1850

I asked Henry about the Place Alexander Marionnet in the centre of Soings-en-Sologne that showed up on the GPS. Apparently Alexander was a nurseryman. Henry explained that his paternal ancestor was a master carpenter from the Vendée, who arrived in the area 150 years ago and found work here. Curiously this would have been around the time that the famous parcel of Romorantin was planted. Despite being left-wing and his boss right-wing, he married his boss’ daughter. At that time and until the 1960s the Domaine de la Charmoise practised polyculture – the pattern of cultivation found throughout the Loire with very few people concentrating solely on growing vines. Today the Marionnets have 60 hectares of vines.

That evening we opened a bottle of the straight Henry Marionnet’s Touraine Gamay 2007 – deliciously easy drinking with bright red fruits and considerable concentration.