Here is proof, if it were needed, that dry Loire Chenin Blanc ages wonderfully well. Although it is unlikely to last as long as the sweet wines, well made wines can last decades. On Sunday I opened this 1964 Saumur from the late Henri Aupy's Clos de l'Abbaye on the northern edge of Le Puy Notre Dame. Henri Aupy established the domaine in 1962. His 1964 is now mid-gold with a touch of aged maderisation along with dry honey on the nose. This touch of maderisation adds extra complexity to this still quite austere wine preserved by its backbone of vibrant acidity. No reason to doubt that this 1964 will last at least another decade or two. The weak point is likely to prove to be the cork.

I was born in 1964 ....

The domaine is now run by Henri's son, Jean-François. I visited the domaine on at least a couple of occasions during the 1990s but haven't been back for years. Not a criticism of the wines but a question of time. I must try and go back.

Henri Aupy was one of the architects of the recently recognised (October 2009) AC Saumur Le Puy Notre Dame, which is for red wines only. Aupy started the campaign in 1975. Whether he envisaged that the new appellation would cover not just Le Puy Notre Dame but 16 other communes as well is another matter.

A tanned looking Christophe Surget, export manager for Couly-Dutheil, with 2005 Clos de l'Olive

Tuesday was the annual Thorman Hunt tasting held in the traditional surroundings of the Merchant Taylors Hall in the City of London. Entirely appropriate surroundings for the traditional values Thorman Hunt & Co Ltd, who concentrate chiefly on shipping French wines, although they do bring in some from Italy and a few from New Zealand, California, Australia as well as Massaya in the Lebanon's Bekaa Valley – partly French owned of course. There is nothing flashy about the company but they do have some excellent names in their portfolio such as Alain Brumont (Madiran/ Pacherenc), Charles Hours (Jurançon), Yves Cuilleron (nothern Rhône), Vincent Girardin (Meursault), Vincent Durreuil-Janthial (Rully), Jean Durup, and Christian Moreau from Chablis.

With best part of 450 wines available to taste and arriving later than I hoped, I only had time to concentrate on the Loires starting with Joseph Drouard's Muscadets (Domaine des Hauts Pemions in Monnières). The 2009 seemed quite lean and minerally at the moment, while his 2010 Muscadet La Hallopière was attractively youthful – floral and lemony.  

2005 Clos de l'Olive

Next a short range from Couly-Dutheil, presented by a tanned looking Christophe Surget – a few days recently in Martinique or was it the position of my flash that gave him such a healthy glow? Amongst the wines the 2010 Blanc de Francs (white made from Cabernet Franc) was showing well as was the 2009 La Baronnie-Madeleine (Chinon) with its sweet opulent fruit. The 2008 Clos de l'Echo and the 2005 Clos de l'Olive showed the contrast of the two vintages. The 2005 with rich, sweet, ripe fruit reflecting the sunshine of 2005, while the 2008 Echo, admittedly three years younger, a more classic Loire expression perhaps and quite tight and austere at the moment and, as one would expect, clearly needs more time in the cellar.

2008 Les Cormiers

Jean-Pierre Chevallier's Les Cormiers, Saumur Blanc, Château de Villeneuve is always a reference for Loire Chenin. The 2008 is wonderfully clean and precise with weight balanced by its minerality. Can be drunk now but I expect it to take on further complexity with age. J-P's 2009 Saumur-Champigny has only recently been released. It is still quite tight – needing more time, so instead look for his 2008, which is drinking beautifully at the moment.

Other wines to be covered in next post.     

2009 Saumur Blanc, Domaine de Nerleux

Last night three of us had a quick bite to eat at the RSJ Restaurant before heading off to the National Theatre to see a gritty Glaswegian play called Men weeping buckets (Men should weep – ed). Naturally short of time we chose a half bottle of Régis and Babette Neau's 2009 Saumur Blanc from Domaine de Nerleux. 100% Chenin Blanc this is showing very well at the moment with rich peach and quince fruit but with enough acidity in the finish to carry it off.   

2009 Anjou Rouge (Cabernet Franc), Château de la Roulerie

We following this with a half of Anjou Rouge from Philippe Germain. Delicious at the moment with soft, quite opulent sooty fruit – very 2009.

2000 Brézé, Saumur Blanc, Clos Rougeard

Not only do you eat well at La Promenade but you always drink well too as they have an excellent wine list. The Loire has a pride of place but there are also good things from Burgundy, the Rhône and Languedoc-Roussillon. 

The wines on the Frères Foucault have a significant place on the list and it wasn't difficult to decide to go for one of their whites from Brézé for our apero and first couple of courses. Xavier Fortin, their fine sommelier, recommended with any hesitation the 2000. I sure he was right as this complex wine was showing very well with honey, butter and vanilla notes and some minerality in the finish. Top white Saumur can provide white Burgundy with fierce competition.

2003 Les Arboises, Brézé, Domaine Guiberteau

Xavier Fortin, La Promenade's sommelier, had mentioned when we arrived that there would be a group of producers from the Loire and elsewhere in for lunch. Among those he mentioned was Romain Guiberteau. On several occasions I have tasted the Guiberteau wines at the Salon des Vins de Loire but never yet got round to visiting them nor drinking one of their wines. When I saw this 2003 on the list I decided this was the moment. It proved to be fortunate as this was the last bottle on the list and it turned out to be a lovely opulent 2003 – rich and softly textured black fruits.

Who said that the 2003s would rapidly fall apart?!  

2007 Chenin Blanc, Saumur, Frédéric Mabileau

Priorities are always important: within minutes of arriving from London on early Friday evening we were all enjoying a glass of Frédéric Mabileau's 2007 Saumur Blanc. This is showing brilliantly at the moment. It showed really well when it was first bottled in 2008 but then by late January 2009 it has closed up with an austere minerality dominating.

Now the opulence – honey and quince –  has returned and this has a terrific balance with the still present mineral austerity and clean finish that is so typical of the 2007 vintage. Stunning at the moment but I fancy it will continue to keep really well. This is an historic bottle for Frédéric: not only was it the first vintage from his parcel of vines at Le Puy Notre Dame but also it was 60 years after his grandfather had made their last white, from Chenin Blanc, from the vineyards of Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil.

See posting on picking the 2009 vintage with Frédéric, Natalie and the family. 

*

 2006 Le P'tit Domaine, Saumur-Champigny, Richard Desouche

Richard Desouche, the manager of Château de Chaintres (Saumur-Champigny) also has his own vines which are bottled under Le P'tit Domaine label. The 2006 is an attractive mid-weight wine which went well with some grilled lamb chops.

2006 back label

1999 Les Cormiers, Saumur Blanc, Château de Villeneuve in the snow

Once again another example of the great cork lottery: two bottles of 1999 Les Cormiers, Saumur Blanc from Jean-Pierre's Château de Villeneuve on Wednesday night to celebrate a nephew's birthday. The first was deep gold and noticeably oxidative, although this became considerably less marked with a little time in glass. In contrast the second bottle was sublime with all the qualities of the first – the honeyed nose, mouthfilling palate and lovely balance – without the oxidative character and all in all greater precision. A wonderful reminder of the magical quality of Jean-Pierre's 1999 Les Cormiers. This was the first year that JP shaped his grapes in July – matching sure that the bunches were well spread out and that each was as perfectly shaped as possible.

As both bottles of Les Cormiers came from the same case and have been stored together, the only variable is the cork. There are those who maintain that variations between bottles are part of the charm of wine. I cannot go along with this nonsense: a producer works for the whole year in their vineyard to grow the best possible grapes and then in the winery to produce the best possible wine and then all their efforts are subject to the lottery of cork.

Interesting to see that Jamie Goode selected the screwcap as his personality of the last decade on his wine-anorak blog. Certainly the brave move by the 16 Clare Valley Riesling producers back in 2000 to go for screwcaps has had a big impact over the last decade, especially in Australia and New Zealand where screwcaps have become the norm. It has also forced the previously complacent cork producers to raise their game.

As I have already commented in previous posts the Loire has been slow, along with the rest of France, to embrace scewcaps, although their acceptance and use are now gaining ground. However, we are yet to see a major, top quality producer in Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé opt to use screwcaps on their top cuvées. As we are at the start of the teenage decade, I'll predict that by the time 2020 comes around very few Loire whites will be still closed with cork. Instead producers will have moved to screwcaps or possibly another alternative closure but not synthetic corks. I expect to see the most rapid change to occur in Muscadet.

Also on Jamie's blog is a report on the Semillon used in the crucial AWRI closure trial.

We picked golden bunches of Chenin Blanc like this leaving the green ones to ripen

We drove across to Le Puy Notre Dame today to do part of a morning's picking with Frédéric Mabileau and family along with various friends out to help do the 1er tri (selection) of Chenin Blanc destined for their Saumur Blanc. The instructions from Frédéric seemed clear: pick only the golden bunches and those with a lot of noble rot developing. Unfortunately the practice is less easy: many bunches were golden on the sunny side but fairly green on the other more shaded side.

Frédéric Mabileau

We picked for between an hour and half – two hours and weren't sorry when we stopped as sustained grape picking is pretty back breaking. We did get a good bonus – a picnic lunch in the vineyard largely prepared by Odette Mabileau, Frédéric's mother. At least three trailer loads were picked today with the grapes coming in at 14%.

Emptying grapes into the trailer

The second and final tri will be done in about ten days time depending upon the weather.

More photos of the pickers

The grapes were generally very clean with noble rot starting to develop

Annie showing off a bunch with noble rot developing

Rémy Mabileau

Odette Mabileau

Jean-Paul Mabileau

Jean-Paul cutting a selected bunch – part raisins dorées and part with botrytis developing

CRM

Pickers emptying grapes into Thomas Meunier's hod. Until July Thomas used to look after the commercial side of the domaine. Love has drawn him to move to the USA and he is now living in North Carolina.

Frédéric emptying his hod

Picking finished it's time to get the picnic lunch, mainly prepared by Odette, laid out

Hugo with the guacamole & king prawn

23 August 2009

Menu cooked by Hugo Naon

Hugo used to be at Cordeillan-Bages and Café Lavinal. He is now planning to open a restaurant in central Bordeaux. He agreed to cook this special dinner at our friend's house in Pauillac. Much of the preparation was done beforehand with Hugo cooking and assembling the dishes on the night. It was a great treat to watch Hugo at work and also to see how much could be prepared in advance.

Les mises en bouches

Foccacia & Grisini with dips:

Anchoiade

Caponata

Cebiche

Guacamole & king prawn
All good but the guacamole and the king prawn along with the cebiche, made from maigre – a local fish – were standouts.

Entrée

Tomatoes, rocket, peppers

Marinated tomatoes and a pungent rocket salad from Derek’s garden
The tomatoes were roasted in an oven for 12 hours at a low heat and this was a simple but delicious dish

Pasta

Spaghetti & clams
A great Italian classic – again apparently simple but wonderfully flavoursome.

Main course

Hugo salting the lamb

Hugo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where kids are taught to barbecue almost before they can walk. Hugo has revolutionised our Pauillac friends' barbecueing technique by showing how to build up a pile of hot coals on one side of the bbq and to regulate the heat by moving coals across as they are required. Also a lot of the cooking is done at a much higher height than most people customarily use, so avoiding the charred and blackened offerings that are typical of many bbqs.

Herb scented & grilled rack of lamb on a crusty polenta with 'petites legumes'
Just as delicious and succulent as the photo suggests.

Cheese

Dessert
The British-Italian connection: a trifle of summer pudding, vanilla ice cream & zabaglione Jean-Pierre's
Assorted berries from the Marche des Capucins in Bordeaux and a team effort in whipping up the zabaglione.

The wines:

We started with some Champagne from Eric Léger.

2001 Les Cormiers, Saumur Blanc Château de Villeneuve

The quality of Jean-Pierre Chevallier's top Saumur greatly impressed the eight of us, particularly two of our Pauillac friends' neighbours who said that there was nothing like this in Bordeaux. Initially the first bottle showed a little wood spice but this soon disappeared and the power, richness and complexity of Les Cormiers 2001 came through. The second bottle was a little more austere and mineral – clear bottle variation here. The 2001 Les Cormiers may well live longer than the 2001 Grand Clos that we drank the previous evening. If this wine wasn't appellation Saumur, it would be considered as one of France's Grand Vins.

2002 La Fleur Milon, Pauillac

The 2002 Fleur Milon drinking very well now with soft, supple black fruits underlaid by that typical Médoc tannin and austerity – good match with the lamb.

2007 Rémus, Montlouis, Domaine de la Taille aux Loups

2007 is the latest release of Rémus and it sold out within a couple of months.Served with the cheese, where despite being really too young its quite lean minerality worked well. 2007 is a vintage that should age well.

This 1990 Vouvray was a glorious finale from Bernard Fouquet. Mid-golden in colour with rich honeyed, 0apricot confit fruit and barley sugar flavours plus wonderful texture, this was a treat: a wine to sip slowly. Given its concentration it went well with our dessert. At the Vouvray Foire aux Vins one of the Vigneau-Chevreau brothers maintained that its is 1990 that is the greater vintage in comparison to 1989. I don't agree and I think both Noël Pinguet and Philppe Foreau believe that 1989 is superior to 1990, albeit that 1990 produced some very rich wines but 1989 has more complexity and finesse. Whatever Bernard's 1990 Selection des Grains Nobles is a reamrkable wine.

1990 Le Marigny SGN Vouvray Moelleux, Domaine des Aubuisières

The birthday boy – 'always worth practising before the event....'

Visits to Château de Villeneuve, Antoine Sanzay and Château de Chaintres

Vineyard, church of Souzay-Champigny and Château de Villeneuve (on right)

Following lunch at Le Pot de Lapin we headed off to Château de Villeneuve in Souzay-Champigny. Jean-Pierre Chevallier was away in the UK training some of the staff of Brittany Ferries with whom Villeneuve has a supply contract, so we tasted with Florence Chevallier starting with the very precise, citric and floral 2007 Saumur Blanc, which is currently showing well. The weighter and richer 2006 Les Cormiers Saumur Blanc.

Then onto the reds beginning with the recently bottled 2007 Saumur-Champigny. Villeneuve has released just one cuvée in 2007 judging that the quality of the vintage did not justify releasing the Vieilles Vignes and Le Grand Clos, so everything has gone into the 'basic' wine. Jean-Pierre is particularly rigorous about not releasing his prestige cuvées in difficult years. This means that the 'basic' wine in vintages like 1998, 2004 and now 2007 offer exceptional value because the grapes from the best parcels are included. Florence told us that she and Jean-Pierre think that it is unlikely that that Le Grand Clos will be released in 2008. The 2007 has sooty, ripe aromas, fair palate weight with just a touch of green pepper in the finish.

In contrast the 2006 Jeunes Vignes (labelled as Château de Villeneuve) has more weight and structure than the 2007. There is, however, little stock of this left. 2006 Vieilles Vignes Saumur-Champigny is deep coloured – richer and more powerful than the 'basic' wine. Ideally it still needs several more years in bottle to show its best. The 2006 Le Grand Clos has lovely sweet conctrated black fruit flavours and quite a tannic structure. Ideally it needs at leats another four years in bottle.

We finished the tasting with the 2003 Coteaux de Saumur, which has great citric and marmalade aromas and flavours and is wonderfully delicate with a lot of finesse. Quite different from a Coteaux du Layon with its greater weight but less delicacy. The 2003 Villeneuve was an fortuitous accident as Jean-Pierre is far more interested in making dry whites than sweets. However, in 2003 the sugar levels went up so rapidly that going to Paris for the marriage of sommelier and wine consultant, Olivier Poussier, meant that by the time they returned on the Sunday the sugar levels were already too high to be able to make a dry white, so for the first time since 1921 Villeneuve made sweet wine in commercial quantities.

I raised the rapid aging of the 2002 Les Cormiers and its oxidative character with Florence. She explained that there were some very ripe grapes included in the 2002 (maturity had been pushed too far) and that Jean-Pierre had used less sulphur than normal, so the wine had a more oxidative character than usual. Florence said that she didn't mind this style. I'm less sure preferring the restrained richness and finesse of the 1999 Les Cormiers.

Antoine Sanzay in his chai which dates from the 1700s

Antoine Sanzay
Antoine is one of the emerging stars of Saumur. He is the seventh generation of a family of vignerons based in Varrains, just to the south east of Saumur. Sadly Antoine's father was killed in 1983 while delivering wine when Antoine was only eight years old. After working for his cousin, Didier Sanzay (Domaine des Sanzay) also in Varrains, Antoine took over the family's 10.5 hectares of vines in 2000. Antoine still has another five years of a contract with the Vignerons de Saint-Cyr to run, so 5.5 ha of his production goes to this local co-operative. This arrangement has suited Antoine well allowing him to build his reputatiuon and clientele with a small production. Once all his vineyards can be bottled under his own name, Antoine should have little problem selling all he makes.

Antoine assessing a young red

First up the 2008 Domaine Saumur-Champigny from tank with attractive rich, black fruits. Then the concentrated 2008 Les Poyeux which was remarkable approachable for a wine that is yet to go through its malolactic fermentation. Until now this cuvée has been called L'Expression as Antoine explains: "When I started up on my own I didn't want to use the lieu-dit Les Poyeux as my cousin Didier has a similar cuvée and it would have looked like copying. However, now I'm established I think it is time to use the terroir name." Les Poyeux is probably the most famous vineyard in the section of Saumur-Champigny around Varrains, Chacé and Saint-Cyr with its name established by the Frères Foucault.






(To be concluded)

Straight ahead the church of Souzay-Champigny and to the right Château de Villeneuve

1999 Les Cormiers, Saumur Blanc
1998 Saumur Blanc

It is easy to forget how well top quality Saumur Blanc will age and two lovely whites from Jean-Pierre Chevallier act as a reminder. Both were served as aperitifs but on separate occasions. Firstly the 1999 Les Cormiers, JP’s top white cuvée fermented and aged in 500 litre barrels – one half new and one half one wine. This has always been one of JP’s great vintages of Les Cormiers. It has lovely rich honeyed fruit, minerality and freshness in the finish – wonderfully complex. The 1999 shows no sign of tiring and served blind it would be difficult to say that it is nearly 10 years old and it is a fraction of the cost of top Burgundy, though comparable in quality.

The 1998 domaine is more mineral and austere but still wonderfully fresh. Fine but without the complexity of the 1999 Les Cormiers it remains an impressive effort from the least good vintage of the second half of the 1990s. I think the 1998 would have been entirely fermented and matured in stainless steel. From the early part of this decade Jean-Pierre has fermented and aged an increasing proportion of this cuvée firstly in 500-litre and now in 400-litre barrels. Like the 1999, the 1998 shows no sign of tiring, although I did wonder how this would have held up when I pulled it out of the rack.

"What about screwcaps?" Jean-Pierre Chevallier pulling the cork on his 2004 Saumur Blanc – August 2005

Bearing in mind the quality of Jean-Pierre’s wines – both white and red – along with a number of other producers in the area, it was sad to read a comment by Keith Prothero about Saumur on Jamie Goode’s Wine Anorak blog:

‘Must go back sometime. Went 4 years ago and stayed in a posh hotel near Saumur overlooking the Loire. All very nice except for the fact that it pissed down the three days we were there,and hence decided to abandon ship and drive to Brittany!! Not a big fan of the wine apart from mature Huet Vouvray.’

August 2005: Jean-Pierre with his 2004 Saumur Blanc

I imagine Keith must have been staying at Le Prieure Chenehutte-Les-Tuffeaux hotel to the west of Saumur. Heartbreaking to be so near to discovering wonderful wines and yet so far………..

Freddy is now picking his Cabernet Franc. “We are harvesting in the sunshine,” said Natalie Mabileau. “The quality is very good with the grapes between 11.5% and 13% potential depending on the parcel. But unfortunately the yield is tiny – varying between 10 hl/ha and 30 hl/ha. Tomorrow we will be in Le Puy-Notre-Dame to make our first tri (selection) of the Chenin Blanc for our white Saumur."

Frédéric and Thomas welcoming Sarah Ahmed

to Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil

(14 August 2008 – following on from our visit to PJ Druet)
We managed to get to Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil and Frédéric Mabileau just after 12.30, so we weren’t too horrendously late. Straight into tasting with Frédéric and Thomas Meunier, who looks after the commercial side. The main purpose of our visit was to taste the bottled version of the first vintage of Fred’s Saumur Blanc. I have tasted this 2007, made from 100% Chenin Blanc from vines at Le Puy-Notre-Dame, at various stages in its development from the end of October last year.

Until just after the Second World War many producers in Saint-Nicolas made a little white wine from Chenin Blanc, which used to be planted on the coteaux until Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil gained its appellation status in 1937. As there no was appellation for the white, the Chenin was pulled out. The Mabileaus bottled their last white in 1947, the year Frédéric’s grandfather, Armand, took over the domaine from his father.

2007 Chenin Blanc, Saumur – the Mabileaus first white since 1947

The vines in Le Puy are rented, although Frédéric is looking to buy vines there. The grapes were picked on two separate occasions. The first tri was on 29 September when they picked the golden coloured grapes – taking 20% of the crop. Then on 12 October, when the grapes, now violet and thin skinned, were about to be affected by noble rot. 30% of the must was fermented in new oak, while the rest was fermented in stainless steel. Fréd’s 2007 Saumur Blanc was attractively floral, honeyed with apricot notes and good length. At a little over 13% it is quite powerful. I tasted the wine again about ten days later and it had tightened up considerably and become quite austere. I expect it will open up again in a few weeks.

Somewhat to our surprise Frédéric told us that the grapes this year were being held back because it was too dry – the véraison was blocked. Clearly Saint-Nic didn't have the rain that Sancerre had earlier on in the week. We tasted Les Rouollières 2007, which makes up 80% of the domaine’s production, and the Anjou Rouge 2007 from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon in Chouzé-sur-Loire, which is just to the west of the Saint-Nicolas appellation. Both were easy drinking, while Couture 2007 (Saint-Nic) was deeper hued, more full-bodied and showing well – due to be bottled in mid-September. Couture 2006 was silky and delicate, while Racine 2005 and Eclipse 2005 were impressive – both showing pruny fruit but sadly both long sold out.

A swift but delicious lunch prepared by Natalie Mabileau accompanied by several wines including the fine 2000 Cuvée du Bel Ouvrage, Savennières from Domaine Laureau. When Thomas kindly asked us to stay to lunch I’d said a quick snack (casse-croûte) would be great. Clearly ‘quick snack’ doesn’t translate into French!

And so to Chinon to see Bernard and Matthieu Baudry and then Pierre and Bertrand Couly.

Frédéric Mabileau, 6 Rue du Pressoir, 37140 Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil
Tel: 02.47.97.79.58
Email: frederic@fredericmabileau.com
Web: www.fredericmabileau.com