Damien Delécheneau

Good post here by my fellow blogger Marc Vanhellemont.

2009 Foire aux vins d'Amboise

Dans les caves du magnifique château d'Amboise, dans un cadre chaleureux, venez goûter les vins de l'appellation Touraine Amboise et les produits du terroir tourangeau.
Une vingtaine de producteurs vous font découvrir leurs différents millésimes.
A l'extérieur, des artisans, métiers de bouche et restaurateurs vous font également découvrir leur savoir-faire.

Lieu :
Amboise
Renseignements :
Serge Bonnigal
02 47 30 11 02

Lionel Gosseaume with his Petit Meslier

Lionel Gosseaume (Touraine)

One of my last visits at this year's Salon was to taste a Petit Meslier, an older grape variety which has virtually disappeared. It is made by a recently installed Touraine vigneron called Lionel Gosseaume in Choussy, which is close to Oisly. According to Wikipedia there are just 20 hectares left with some in Champagne.

Sadly the Touraine aytollahs have no time for old and interesting varieties like Petit Meslier – Sauvignon Blanc or bust is their motto. However, it is good to see that people like Lionel are keen to preserve the area's heritage, albeit in tiny quantities. 

Lionel Gosseaume has 9 hectares of vines and he started in 2007. See him here on YouTube: http://www.vignesendirect.com/Loir-et-Cher/domaine-de-pierre.html  

14 Route de la Gitonnière, 41700 Choussy

Tel: 02.54.71.55.02

Email: domeindepierre@orange.fr

**

Vincent Siret-Courtaud (Quincy and Châteaumeillant)

Having vines in both Quincy and Châteaumeillant is, as far as I know, a pretty unusual combination. Vincent has 10 hectares in Quincy plus 6 hectares belonging to his father – Jacques Siret. He started four years ago in Quincy and then more recently acquired three hectares in Châteaumeillant. I think 2009 was his first vintage.

Vincent's 2010 Quincy, from vines on sand and gravel, is lemony, clean and precise. His father's 2010 is richer bvut has less finesse. I also tasted Vincent's 2008 Angelus, which comes from one parcel and was vinified in barrel. I wasn't convinced that the wood did it any favours as the vanilla dominated. Still production is only 800 bottles.

Vincent's Châteaumeillant is a blend of 75% Gamay and 25% Pinot Noir. The 2009 has attractive juicy fruit, while the 2010 has some attractive spice.

Le Grand Rosières
18400 Lunery
Tel: 02.48.68.92.18
Email: vincentsiret@hotmail.com       

Touraine vineyard with flowers

 

1er Salon des Vignerons Bio Tourangeaux : « Bio t’y foule »Rendez-vous à la Salle des Fêtes de Rochecorbon (37) pour le premier salon des vignerons bio tourangeaux, qui se tiendra les samedi 11 et dimanche 12 décembre 2010.

Une vingtaine de vignerons viendront vous proposer des dégustations de vin bio des appellations du département : vins de Bourgueil, Chinon, Montlouis, saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil, Touraine ou encore Vouvray.

Un dîner avec les vignerons sera organisé le samedi soir, au prix de 18 par personne et sur inscription.

Un service de restauration sera assuré sur place le dimanche.

Lieu : Salle des Fêtes, 37210 Rochecorbon

Date : les samedi 11 et dimanche 12 décembre 2010

Horaires d’ouverture : le samedi 11 de 16 à 21h et dimanche 12 de 10h à 18h.

Entrée : 3€

En savoir plus : Salon Bio T-y Foule

Producers present:

Daniel and Dominique Allias (Vouvray)

Jean-Marie Amirault (Bourgueil)

Cyril and Fabien Boisard (Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil)

Clos de l'Abbaye de Bourgeuil (Bourgueil)

Pierre Caslot (Bourgueil)

Ludovic Chanson (Montlouis)

Laurent Chatenay (Montlouis)

Château de Coulaine (Chinon)

Sandrine Deschamps (Bourgueil)
Fabrice Gasnier (Chinon)

Pierre and Rodolphe Gauthier (Bourgueil)
Christiane and Magalie Georget (Bourgueil)

La Herpinière
Pascal Lambert (Chinon)
Yann Lechartier (Montlouis)
Philippe Mabille (Vouvray)
Les Loges de la Folie (Montlouis)
Pascal Pibaleau (Touraine Azay-le-Rideau)
Philippe Pichard (Chinon)
Pascale et François Plouzeau (Touraine – Richelieu)
Marc Plouzeau (Chinon)
Domaine des Pressoirs
Château de la Roche (Touraine Azay-le-Rideau)
Jean-François Rouet (Chinon)
Frantz Saumon (Montlouis)
Michel Thibault (Bourgueil)

During July and August (19th July to 13th August) the Syndicat des Producteurs de Vins de l’Appellation Touraine have organised a series of free evening spent with Touraine vignerons – see list below.

'Juillet et août 2010

Les vignerons de l’appellation Touraine vous font vivre 20 soirées inoubliables…

• pour découvrir les paysages viticoles
• pour connaître les terroirs riches et variés
• pour rencontrer des vignerons passionnés : ces soirées sont l’occasion de rencontrer ces femmes et ces hommes, architectes et fervents défenseurs de ce patrimoine culturel français 
• pour déguster les vins de l’appellation Touraine : blancs, rosés, rouges et fines bulles.

19 juillet

Château de Quincay

Meusnes (41) - français,anglais

20 juillet

Domaine de la Girardière

Saint-Aignan sur Cher (41)

français,anglais,allemand

21 juillet

La Chapinière de Chateauvieux

Chateauvieux (41) - français,anglais

22 juillet

Château de l'Aulée

Azay le Rideau (37) - français,anglais

23 juillet

Domaine de Monplaisir

Selles sur Cher (41) -français,anglais

26 juillet

Earl F. Jourdain

Lye (36) - français,anglais

27 juillet

Domaine du Bien Vivre

St Romain sur Cher (41)- français

28 juillet

Caves Monmousseau

Montrichard (41) -français

29 juillet

Caves du Père Auguste

Civray de Touraine (37)

français,anglais,allemand

30 juillet

Domaine Augis

Meusnes (41) - français

2 août

Domaine de la Bergeonnière

St Romain sur Cher (41)

français,anglais

3 août

Les Vignerons des Coteaux Romanais

Saint-Romain sur Cher (41)

français,anglais

4 août

Domaine du Chapitre

Saint-Romain sur Cher (41)

français

5 août

Domaine de la Doltière

Chateauvieux (41) – français

6 août

Earl Pibaleau Pascal

Azay le Rideau (37)- français,anglais

10 août

Domaine du Vieil Orme

Saint Julien de Chédon (41)

français,anglais

11 août

Courtault-Tardieux Earl

Thésée la Romaine (41)

français,anglais

12 août

Château des Couldraies

Saint-Georges sur Cher (41)

français,anglais,allemand

13 août

Confrérie des Vignerons de

Oisly et Thésée (41)- français

Renseignements et réservations

Office de Tourisme Val de Cher Saint-Aignan

60,rue Constant Ragot - BP 41 - 41110 Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher

Tél.02 54 71 77 23    Fax 02 54 75 50 26

E-mail :resa.otvdc@orange.fr

Site Internet :www.tourisme-valdecher-staignan.com 

Organisé par le Syndicat des Producteurs de Vins de l’Appellation Touraine 

Gratuit - Réservation obligatoire

Départ à 17h30 des points de rendez-vous'

More details also here.

1998 Cabernet, AC Touraine, Domaine Joël Delaunay

Last night we had a very good takeaway beef and olive tagine from Nacer@le Lézard Vert. Firstly a bottle of Jacky Blot's fine Triple Zéro to get the six of us gathered for our group's AGM in the right frame of mind. This was followed by the 1998 Cabernet from Joël Delaunay, which was very interesting to try after having tasted the 1999 the previous evening. The 1998 was also still showing well with some attractive fruit. A more difficult vintage it was more edgy and less soft and supple than the 1999. No reason, however, to feel that the remaining bottles need to be drunk up immediately. Should last another two or three years easily, although the lean structure may become more apparent. 

2000 Anjou, Domaine Ogereau  

An Anjou Rouge from Catherine and Vincent Ogereau is made to drink fairly young as it is from many other Anjou producers with their Anjou Villages being more structure and designed to age. However, this medium weight 2000 Anjou is still drinking very well with soft black fruits and well integrated tannins. Like the Delaunay remaining bottles should happy continue to give pleasure for another two or three years or more.   

Thierry Puzelat

Jean-Marie and Thierry Puzelat invite you to their Portes Ouvertes:

Dégustation de 11 à 18 heures avec nos amis vignerons :


    - Agnès et René MOSSE, Anjou.
    - Catherine et Pierre Breton, Bourgueil.
    - Agnès et Jean Foillard, Morgon.
    - Jean-François Nicq, Côtes du Roussillon.
    - Jean-Sébastien Gioan, Côtes du Roussillon.
    - Pascal Potaire, Touraine.


 6 route de Seur   41120 Les Montils.   tél. : 02 54 44 05 16
 tue-bœuf@wanadoo.fr

The Vienne and Candes-Saint-Martin just before the confluence with La Loire

 Yesterday was the first really glorious day of Spring in the Loire after a week or more of cold, showery weather. Temperatures reached 23˚C by mid-afternoon. Luckily we had decided some time ago to go to Saumur, so we spent the time wandering across with fairly frequent stops to take pictures.

Reignac: mill race on the Indre

Reignac, the Indre and Château de Reignac

Church@Louans from Place du 18 Novembre 1918

Château@Louans

 Café de la Promenade, Neuil

We stopped at the Café de la Promenade in Neuil for a late morning – a welcoming halt and lunch looked good value at 11.90€.

Panzoult: dandelions in the vineyard with church spire in background

Panzoult: winery of Baudry-Dutour

 Vineyard@Savigny-en-Veron (AC Chinon) light sandy soils with steam from the nuclear power station in the background

Vegetable stall in the centre of the market

The Wednesday morning market in Loches is always worth a visit if you are in the area. We would have gone to the Saturday edition last week but as it was pouring with rain it didn't appeal.

L'Ecremières: the excellent cheese stall

Street in the heart of the market

In the pink – the happy pig!

Reflections of the market in the Café du Balto windows

Café du Balto: time for a calm coffee while watching the bustling market

Wine shop: Les flaveurs de la Terre

January 2009: Epeigné-les-Bois

Interesting analysis of this winter's weather in the Loire by Patrick Galois, forecaster for Météo-France, in today's La Nouvelle République:

Un hiver pas si exceptionnel qu'il n'y paraît

Pour la NR, Patrick Galois, prévisionniste à Météo-France, revient sur un hiver qui tarde à passer et qui a été marqué par de nombreux épisodes neigeux.

Est-ce que l'hiver 2008-2009 est à marquer d'une pierre blanche ?

« La vraie originalité de cet hiver est sa fréquence d'épisodes neigeux. A Tours, il y a eu 17 jours de chute de neige et 11 jours où la neige a tenu au sol et la région Centre n'a pas été parmi les plus enneigées. A Poitiers, il y a eu 17 jours de chute de neige et elle a tenu pendant 14 jours au sol.

Galois dismisses the idea that 2009-2010 has been an exceptionally harsh, cold winter, pointing out that 1962-63 was much colder. Although there have been waves of cold this winter there have also been warmer periods. He also says that the recent storm, Xynthia, can't really be ascribed to global warming.

Vines above the village of Thésée beside the River Cher

Further reports from the big French wine tasting on Wednesday

Domaine le Haut Chesneau, Thésée, AC Touraine 

I first tasted wines from this domaine in January last year at a tasting in Vinopolis. The wines are now imported into the UK by Charles Hawkins & Partners Ltd. Tasting with Charles on Wednesday confirmed my impression from last year that the whites from this domaine are their better suit. I tasted their mineral 2008 Sauvignon de Touraine (retailing around £7.75 and closed with a screwcap). Although this has some length I think it is worth paying a £1 more for the 2008 Vieilles Vignes (RSP £8.75), which has greater complexity, lemony weight and attractive minerality.

I also tasted their fresh and spicy 2009 Pineau d'Aunis Rosé before tasting, at Charles' urging, the 2008 Malbec d'Exception (£8.75), which is actually a blend of 60% Côt (Malbec) and 40% Cabernet Franc. Although better than the reds I tasted at Vinopolis a year ago, this is still work in progress – still too many green notes, although there is some concentration here. Is it a question of reducing the yields or just picking a little later – making sure you have flavour ripeness?

2009 Montlouis Sec, Domaine de la Rochepinal, Hervé Denis  
Imported into the UK by O/Moore & Co Ltd in Dorking, Hervé Denis is not a name I have come acroos before. His website explains that he started in 1989 with just over 2 hectares of rented vines – 1.94 ha of  Chenin and 0.38 of Gamay. He now has 15.04 ha that includes I was told 10 ha of Montlouis – the rest is Gamay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. 50% of his production goes to the Montlouis cooperative. 1995 was his first true vintage. The 2009 sec from 80 year old vines is pretty lean at the moment – truly a sec. I expected more character from such old vines but it may be a stage it is going through. 

2009 Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine, Château du Coing de St Fiacre
A couple of promising 2009 samples tasted on Withers Agencies Ltd from this fine Muscadet estate. Pointless saying more at the monent as the wines haven't yet been bottled except that I preferred the more vibrant, mineral sample.

2008 vintage: Pierre Jacolin in his winery at Saint-Cérols

2009 Menetou-Salon, Le Prieuré de Saint-Cérols, Pierre Jacolin
Sadly, due to the sucession of hailstorms that hit AC Mentetou-Salon devastating the crop, this is going to be a rare bottle – a lovely combination of grassiness, gooseberry and grapefruit with the weight of 2009. Pierre stays in the same hotel in centre of Angers for the annual Salon de Vins de Loire. I'm impressed by his wines but somehow I don;'t always get to taste them during the Salon.  I guess there are just too many exhibitors and you have to learn that you can't taste everything.

However, if you are on road from Bourges to Sancerre and want a stop to taste some good Menetou-Salon before crossing into Sancerre, stop in Saint-Cérols and taste Pierre Jacolin's wines.

Part 3 to follow. 
Part 1 here.     

2008 Gamay Vieilles Vignes, Touraine, Vignoble du Haut Bagneux (Jean-Christophe Mandard)

On Thursday evening I thought it would be appropriate to open a bottle of Jean-Christophe Mandard's old vine Gamay to mark the return of electric power to the more isolated parts of the commune of Mareuil-sur-Cher. This Gamay from 65 year old vines has the concentration you would expect from old vines, so a Gamay needing food. The spicy black fruit worked well with lamb steaks, slightly less well with a magret de canard.

Jean-Christophe Mandard

I've tasted Jean-Christophe's wines (Vignoble du Haut Bagneux) on several occasion – his UK importers are Richards Walford and also the wines are listed by La Lionnière, Mareuil's ferme auberge, so I took the opportunity of tasting the reds during the Salon des Vins de Loire. (Given the range of Loire wines it is difficult to keep switching colours. I was on reds at the time and didn't have an opportunity to go back and taste the whites).

The Vignoble du Haut Bagneux has 21 hectares of vines with 10 different grape varieties planted including a parcel of 100 year-old Gamay de jus noir – a teinturier. (The vast majority of wine grapes have white flesh and includes all the top quality varieties. In the past teinturier varieties were used to give wines colour. Alicante Bouchet and Dornfelder are probably the best known today.) I must check with Jean-Christophe exactly which Gamay this is as there are apparently three different Gamay teinturiers – le Gamay de Bouze, le Gamay de Chaudenay and le Gamay Fréaux.

I started with the soft, easy drinking 2009 Gamay de Touraine that will be bottled this month made by carbonic maceration it had a hint of banana that can be typical of this fermentation process, especially if a particulr yeast has been used. Then the 2009 Cabernet – 60% Franc and 40% Sauvignon – with concentration, structure and quite marked blackcurrant notes. It will be bottled in April, whereas the soft and ripe Tradition – 50% Côt and 50% Cabernet Franc – will bottled in September.

Another domaine I need to visit. It will be interesting to taste the 2009 reds once they are in bottle.

Report here in La Nouvelle République today on the weather during 2009. Compared to the average over 30 years from 1971 to 2001, there was 17% more sunshine, 13% less rain and 0.4˚C more heat.

'En 2009, un temps chaud sec et ensoleillé

L'an dernier, la Touraine a connu 17 % de soleil en plus, 13 % d'eau en moins et 0,4 degrés de plus que la moyenne sur trente ans.

Chaud, sec et ensoleillé : ainsi se résume la météo de l'année 2009 en Touraine, selon les données du centre départemental de Parçay-Meslay. En confrontant leurs relevés aux moyennes établies durant la période 1971-2000, les météorologistes aboutissent à ces conclusions.'

Read the rest here.

Opened this 2008 Touraine Sauvignon last evening after a very long nine and half hour drive to Edinburgh from London. We were held up by traffic jams in north London, jams of the MI and an unending series of road works on the M6. The last delay was being stopped by the police on the outskirts of Edinburh in a random drinking and driving check. "Not since last night" was our response when asked if we had last had a drink. We were tempted to add that "we could do with one of this journey" but decided that this might not be wise.

Domaine du Pré Baron has 35 hectares of vines in Oisly in eastern Tourane and is owned by Guy and Jean Luc Mardon. Their 2008 Touraine Sauvignon is pungently grassy and gooseberry flavoured and quite mouthfilling. This may well be from the 13% alcohol or perhaps just a few grams (3-4) of residual sugar or a combination of the two. It is available from Majestic Wine for £6.99 per bottle or £6.49 per bottle on a two bottle offer. Certainly good value here – more agreeable drinking than the 2008 Les Griottes Pouilly-Fumé from Jean-Pierre Bailly and substantially cheaper.

Last night had dinner at the RSJ (tagliatelle with wild mushroom particularly recommended). We drank the 2005 Le Portail, Vouvray from Didier and Catherine Champalou and the 2007 Anthologie du Clos from Vincent Roussely.

Le Portail comes from the vineyard just by the Champalous' house and winery and is vinified and aged in newish barrels for 12 months. As you would expect the 2005 is rich and mouthfilling with peach and honeyed fruit and some residual sugar making this a tendre or almost demi-sec style. As Le Portail is already 13.5% alc it would doubtless have raised the alcohol too high to have fermented this dry. Curiously the oak is still quite noticeable – perhaps it is the sweetness that accentuates it? Although I enjoyed the wine and it was a good match with the pasta, ideally I prefer the vintages of Portail when it is sec.

We then moved onto the 2007 Anthologie du Clos from Vincent Roussely's Clos Roussely, which has plenty of bright red fruits and some coal tar aromas – medium weight and good length. Naturally this has less concentration than the 2006 Anthologie but is a real success in a diicult year for reds. I wiould drink this quite young to enjoy its youthful fruit. Anthologie is a new addition to the RSJ list joining Vincent's 2008 Touraine Sauvignon and 2008 Touraine Gamay, which are already on the list and selling well.

(Declaration: I work as a consultant to the RSJ and have done for best part of 20 years.)

Bruno Curassier of Domaine de la Grange in Bléré has a Cave Ouverte this coming weekend – Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th December. Bruno produces a range of good value AC Touraine wines. See report on my visit to Domaine de la Grange in December 2008.

Bruno Curassier, Domaine de la Grange
8 Rue de la Grange, 37150 Bléré
Tel: 02.47.57.68.18
Site: www.lagrange-curassier.fr

With a few exceptions a rosé is normally best drunk within a year of its vintage. However, this recently tasted 2007 Rosé made from Cabernet by Patrick Mahoudeau, Domaine de la Haute Clémencerie is still very fresh and shows no sign of tiring. Pretty mid-pink colour with attractive red fruits, it's a refreshing apéritif with quite an austere finish due to the characteristically high acidity of the 2007 vintage. I enjoy this austerity and cleanness but I know some people find these 2007s just a little too austere.

Sign at the entrance to the Domaine de la Haute Clemencerie, Faverolles-sur-Cher

The George Sand on the Indre, Loches

From the Val de Loire newsletter:

Touraine: 50% off hotel rooms:

Durant 6 week-ends, du 6 novembre au 13 décembre, 1000 chambres d’hôtel sont commercialisées à moins 50% !

Une excellente occasion de découvrir, pour un prix tout doux, le patrimoine du Val de Loire. Partez pour des balades le long de la Loire ou sur les coteaux des vignes, visitez les caves troglodytes des vignerons, savourez les spécialités gastronomiques de la région...

Profitez également de votre séjour en Touraine pour déguster le Touraine Primeur et participez aux festivités autour de sa sortie !

Among the hotels participating in this special offer are: Le Bon Laboureur (Chenonceaux), Château de Noizay (Vouvray), Château d'Artigny (Montbazon), Auberge de la Brenne (Neuillé-le-Lierre), Le George Sand (Loches) and Château de Pray (Amboise).

Renseignements et réservations (further information and reservations) sur le site http://www.plusdetouraine.com/

Related articles by Zemanta

• Grape escapes: 10 French vineyard stays (guardian.co.uk)

•••

Finally...AC Saumur Le Puy Notre Dame!
Although the INAO accepted AC Saumur le Puy Notre Dame on 14th June 2006, it took a further three years and more for the French Minister of Agriculture to find his pen to sign the décret, which was done on 14th October 2009. Apparently the reform of the agrément system held things up.

The new AC is for reds only and covers 17 communes roughly centred on Le Puy Notre Dame. These are: Brézé, Brossay, Cizay la Madelaine, Distré, Doué la Fontaine, Epieds, Le Puy Notre Dame, Les Ulmes, Le Vauldenay, Les Vergers sur Layon, Meigné, Montreuil Bellay, Berrie, Les Trois Moutiers, Pouancay, Saix and Saint Léger de Monbrillais. The new appellation stretches nearly 30 kilometres from Doué la Fontaine in the west to Les Trois Moutiers in the east.

23 producers from the 17 communes covered by the AC will be making 3000 hls of the 2009 vintage, which will bear the new appellation. The late Henri Aupy started the campaign to get the appellation in 1975. Under the rules the base yield is 50 hl/ha, which is 20% less than that permitted for straight AC Saumur, with a maximum tolerance to 56hl/ha. Weedkiller can be used in part of the vineyard but not across the whole area. The wine cannot be put on the market before 1st June following the vintage. The producers are hoping that the wine will be priced between 6-10€ a bottle. (See l'anjou agricole (22.10.09).

CRM picking@Le Puy Notre Dame: 3rd October 2009

I don't want to make a big thing of this but it cannot surely be mere coincidence that Jim's Loire and friends spent half a morning picking Chenin Blanc (yes I know the new appellation is for red wine) at Le Puy Notre Dame on Saturday 3rd October and just eleven days later the new décret became official.

Chenin Blanc 2009 vintage: Le Puy Notre Dame

Related articles:
l'anjou agricole (22.10.09)

26 September 2009

Some of the morning's harvest arriving – Chardonnay for the Crémant

The start of lunch

Lunch over – time for a coffee before heading back to work

What could be more agreeable than a morning spent picking grapes in the warm Touraine sunshine, lunch in the courtyard and the afternoon spent either filling the press or back into the vineyard to check whether the next parcel is ready to be picked. Yesterday Vincent Roussely (Clos Roussely) had some 45-50 people, who have signed up to MesVignes, spending the day with him at the domaine.

MesVignes is one of a number of schemes that offer the chance to discover what it is like to be a vigneron by buying vines in an established vineyard. The company has 12 domaines in various parts of France including Bordeaux, Burgundy, Languedoc, Loire and Rhône Valley involved. Domaine Fouassier in Sancerre and Clos Roussely are the Loire domaines in MesVignes.

The minimum purchase is 12 vines which gives you 12 bottles of wine (2010 prices). If you signed up for Vincent Roussely's Clos Roussely it would cost 194€ for 12 vines. Clients can then sign up for for a day's harvesting with Vincent. If you choose all the options the cost for 36 vines would be 799€.

Today Vincent has another MesVignes group, who will be picking Pineau d'Aunis from vines planted in 1905.

Is the Gamay ready to pick? – out in the vineyard to find out

Part of the 'is the Gamay ready?' group

Renaud, a local oenologue, explains how to judge a grape's maturity

The other group sorting grapes on the tapis de tri as they head up into the press (above and below)

Pineau d'Aunis – vines planted in 1905 (above and below)

Vincent with a baby frog – will MesVignes have an adopt a frog scheme soon?

There are several other buy vine schemes including 3D Wines and Wineshare.