1986 demi-sec Savennières Château d'Epiré

Dinner with Chenin appreciating friends so a good opportunity to look at a mature Savennières. Despite a short cork, this Château d'Epiré is still in good condition. Mid-burnished gold in colour, slightly fungal aromas with good mouthfilling honeyed fruit and the richness nicely balanced by vibrant, quite austere background of acidity. made a complex and intriguing aperitif and proved to be a good match for a Greek style salad as first course.  

2010 Les tufolies, Saumur-Champigny, Domaine des Champs Fleuris

For the main course a sort of North African shepherd's pie we went from middle aged to nearly extreme youth with this vibrantly fruited, young Saumur-Champigny full of soft round fruit. This is an ideal bottle to enjoy now, though it will doubtless last easily another three or four years but to what purpose? 

Philip Fournier

Loire Regional Trophy: White Loire over £10 Trophy

2008 Savennières, Château de Chamboureau, Domaine FL

This brilliantly precise Savennières shows the heights that Chenin Blanc can attain and illustrates that it is often the more difficult, cooler vintages like 2008 that produce the finest dry white Loires. 2008 was a cool summer with little sun. The sun came out in September and October but the temperatures remained cool – rarely above the low 20s˚C. The grapes ripened slowly with a significantly longer hang-time than normal. The result – very pure flavours, minerality and a wonderful backbone of acidity.      

Domaine FL is the creation of Philippe Fournier, a telecommunications tycoon in Angers. FL combines the Domaine Jo Pithon in the Layon and the vineyards of Château de Chamboureau in Epiré (Savennières).

A long established domaine in Savennières likely to have been producing wine for some 400 years, it is at the western end of the village of Epiré. The vines are planted on schist. In 1949 the property was bought by the Soulez family. The vineyards were sold by Pierre Soulez in 2006 to Fournier. The following year the Bordeaux consultant, Stéphane Derenoncourt, was hired to advise here and for Domaine Jo Pithon. This led to the acrimonious departure of Pithon. Fournier then combined the two estates under the Domaine FL umbrella in 2008. A new winery is now under construction at Rochefort.

Hugues Daubercies, Pierre Soulez’s nephew is the winemaker. The grapes are picked by hand with three sweeps through the vines selecting the fruit at just the maturity needed. Native yeasts and fermentation and aging in barriques for 12 months. 

The 2008 is remarkable value: retailing at just 15.60€ a bottle on the FL site (www.domainefl.com). It has the potential to last for 20-30 years.  

Philippe's son, Julien, looks after the commercial side of Domaine FL.


** Back in November 2009 I asked here whether Philippe Fournier was 'serious'. The quality of the 2008 Chamboureau answers my question: he is certainly serious!

2008 Clos le Grand Beaupréau, Savennières, Domaine Ogereau

After our return from Lisbon, Friday night was the first opportunity to have an evening of Loire wines for some time. We made a start with the 2008 Clos le Grand Beaupréau Savennières from Catherine and Vincent Ogereau as the aperitif. This Savennières comes from the vineyard that they share with Claude and Joëlle Papin and Yves and Marie-Annick Guégniard. This 2008 still has a touch of buttery oak in the good mouthfilling fruit – the richness balanced by minerality. A lovely glass with all the precision associated with the 2008 vintage.

2009 La Cerisaie, Anjou Rouge, Domaine de la Bergerie

We then enjoyed the easy drinking, juicy red and black cherry fruited Anjou Rouge with the roast chicken. Very much a wine to enjoy with friends – not one to analyse at length and it worked well with the chicken helping the flow of animated conversation with our neighbour. Made from 100% Cabernet Franc this is best drunk young to enjoy its fruit.

2009 Coteaux du Layon Saint-Lambert, Domaine Ogereau

With the cheese I opted for this 2009 Coteaux du Layon from the Ogereaus. Delicately sweet it shows how versatile this style of Layon can be – it worked very well with two types of Gorgonzola – creamy and piccante. This 2009 has lovely balance with citric flavours along with some apricot and just a touch of honey – all set off by refreshing acidity. This 2009 will doubtless age well but I'm not convinced that there is necessarily much point in long cellaring as it is already showing well. Naturally this rather depends upon whether it closes up this year (two years on from the vintage) as Loire Chenins often do.