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.

Sign with hill and town of Sancerre in the background

8 October 2008
After seeing Alphonse Mellot snr and jnr in their cellars near Porte César, I walked westwards through the streets of old Sancerre until I got to the roundabout at the western end of the town. A couple of hundred metres on from there in the direction of Bourges is the headquarters of the substantial (55 ha) and long-established Domaine Fouassier, which for many years has been run by two brothers – Pierre and Jean-Michel.

Although they were all very busy, Benoît Fouassier, the son of Jean-Michel, had tine for a quick chat.

BF: “I’m happy with the quality. We started the Sauvignon Blanc on 30th September and the Pinot Noir the following day. We were hit by the hail – 15 of our 55 hectares were affected and here the crop has been reduced by 10%-15%. For the Sauvignon the average yields are 45-50 hl/ha with between 12.5˚-13˚ degrees. We pick all our Pinot Noir by hand and is coming in at between 12.5-13.5˚ degrees potential. The yield is 30-35 hl/ha compared to an average year of 45-50 hl/ha. We expect to finish the harvest sometime in the middle of next week – the level of maturity this year has been quite spread out.”

An invitation to taste and buy

I asked Benoît about their plans to go biodynamic. “We will be starting to convert 18 hectares next year and then the rest of the estate will follow soon afterwards.” With 55 ha this is a significant move bearing in mind that the Vacherons, amongst others, are already biodynamic. It looks like the new generation – Benoît and Paul, the son of Pierre

From the Pays Nantais through to the Central Vineyards the Loire is increasingly a centre of biodynamic viticulture. In addition there are also a lot of producers, who are organic and whose practices are close to biodynamics.

While we talked Pierre Fouassier appeared with Michael Ott, their UK agent in tow. Pierre had pressed Michael Ott, their UK agent here on his annual harvest visit, into service – helping out of the lorry. Before they departed for another bout of the lorries, I asked Pierre for a photo of Michael working on a lorry and I look forward to posting one the site soon. Jean-Michel also appeared briefly.

Construction of a tunnel from the tasting room
to a new reception area for groups

The domaine is involved in mesvignes (www.mesvignes.com) – a vine sharing scheme similar to 3d Wines or Andrew Gordon’s WineShare. “Last Saturday,” explained Benoît, “was the day that mesvignes’ customers can to pick their Pinot Noir. Unfortunately the overnight temperature had dropped to only 2˚. It was horrible conditions for picking!”

Clos Roche Blanche Côt 2007 AC Touraine
Vacheron Les Romains 1996 AC Sancerre
Good wine is even better when it confounds conventional wisdom and two wines drunk over the weekend certainly did that.

I discovered the excellent wines of Catherine Roussel and Didier Barrouillet’s Clos Roche Blanche back in September 1989 on a press trip to the Loire looking at red wines. They are probably the closest I have to a house wine. Catherine is not convinced that her wines age. Due to demand, especially from the US, they sell all that they make rarely managing to squirrel away any bottles to see how they age. Didier is more convinced of their aging potential.

The dark and still brooding 1997 Côt (called Auxerrois in Cahors and Malbec elsewhere) with its lovely soft black fruits with is a potent witness that Catherine might want to reconsider her opinion on their ability to age. Some of the fruit is from vines that are over 100 years old – amazingly gnarled, fragile looking vines. Côt is probably the best red variety of eastern Touraine. The 1997 also helps to demolish the popular idea that all Loire wines are light, fruity and should be drunk as young as possible. The Roche Blanche 1997 showed no signs of decline and may well last another 8 to 10 years or perhaps more.

Vacheron Les Romains 1996 Sancerre Blanc – golden, richly textured, a little honeyed with a backbone of acidity. Wonderful – slightly opened in error as it was an unlabeled bottle from a box of oddments. From the cork I could see it was Vacheron but didn't clock the vintage until it was pulled. My first reaction was to push the cork back in but on a nano-second's reflection pulled it out again. I was spot on – excellent Sunday night apero and Sancerre is currently featuring on this site with our Vacheron visit the next one to write up. It underlines that top quality Sancerre ages well and gains complexity.

Clos Roche Blanche, 19 Route de Montrichard, 41110 Mareuil-sur-Cher. Tel: 02.54.75.17.03
Domaine Vacheron, Rue du Puis Poulton, 18300 Sancerre.
Tel: 02.48.54.09.93
Email: vacheron.sa@wanadoo.fr