Domaine le roc des anges, roussillon
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- DOMAINE PATRICK CORBINEAU, Chinon – Biodynamic
- TOURAINE
- DOMAINE CATHERINE PIERRE BRETON, Bourgueil – Biodynamic
- DOMAINE SEBASTIEN DAVID, Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil – Organic
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TOURAINE Do not fret, it’s not a crisis/But this wine has brettanomyces (Ogden Smashed)
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The Alternative Wine Glossary
DOMAINE DE LA CHEVALERIE, DANIELLE & STEPHANIE CASLOT, Bourgueil – Organic The Caslot family have been farming their domaine of thirty-three hectares since 1640 from their farmhouse which sits on the hill overlooking the vines in the heart of the superb terroir of Restigné. As you enter the courtyard a dark tunnel leads you down to the huge family cellar where you’ll get to see row upon row of unlabelled pleasure. These are the massive tuffeau cellars carved into the slopes, their unvarying temperatures providing a perfect haven for the conservation and ennoblement of fine wines. Made from Cabernet Franc grapes, the Caslot Bourgueil is a delightful fresh, yet intense, wine with a floral bouquet and flavours of raspberry and blackberry. He makes several cuvées of varying degrees of intensity and complexity from different soils. Some wines are to be quaffed with a smile and some smoked meats, the more profound versions should be decanted to allow the fruit and mineral perfumes to mingle. As well as harvesting Cab Franc, Caslot has also been harvesting a tidy crop of coup-de-coeurs. Peu-Muleau, from twenty-five-year old vines planted on sandy soil, is a lively aromatic number with small ripe fruits and notes of framboise and griottine cherries. It’s savoury and easy on the gums. Put it in your rabbit stew and drink with proper gusto. Les Galichets, from average thirty-year old vines on silica-clay soils, is a firmer, more sculpted style of Cabernet Franc. The nose displays aromas of raspberry and redcurrant, with notes of freshly dyed leather and pencil shavings. The palate is full of fresh, juicy red fruit flavours with a sweet and sour black cherry quality and a chocolatey, savoury richness – pronounced, but elegant tannins are married to refreshing, mouth-watering acidity. It won’t say no to a Côte-de-Boeuf. Moving on up the Chevalerie is from forty-five year old vines. A deep purple (almost opaque) core leads to a narrow rim – this is a big, concentrated wine. The nose offers a huge whiff of raspberry, blackcurrant and dark cherry aromas, with a touch of cedar/pencil shavings as well as spice and blond tobacco and sous-bois. The palate is dense and rich, with bags of sweet, ripe fruit flavours. There are some healthy tannins here, so saddle that haunch of wild boar and make like a parody of Henry VIII (tearing the meat off the bone, gulping your vinous grog and lobbing the carcase over your shoulder – it’s the new courtly behaviour). Busardières is from the oldest vines planted on limestone-clay soils. Velvety and rich, with savoury and dark chocolate flavours complementing black cherry and blackcurrant fruit. Yet more flavours reveal themselves with time in the glass, including notes of cinnamon, cloves and Sichuan peppercorns. Monumental depth of flavour, great length, yet wonderful finesse. It will continue to age magnificently. All very wonderful. Damn it, my dear, we do give a Franc.
2014 BOURGUEIL “DYPTIQUE” DERNI CRI R
2011 BOURGUEIL “BRETECHE” R
BOURGUEIL CUVEE PEU-MULEAU R
2008 BOURGUEIL CUVEE DE LA CHEVALERIE R
BOURGUEIL LES GALICHETS R
2007 BOURGUEIL BUSARDIERES R
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Gaudeamus igitur, Juvenes dum sumus, Post jucundum juventutem Post molestum senectutem, Nos habebit humus
DOMAINE PATRICK CORBINEAU, Chinon – Biodynamic “The tangy, expressive, stalky Cabernet Franc, capable of seeming both playful and fruity in some moods, darker and even a touch forbidding in others, though without really ever preparing to challenge the peaks or plumb the abysses (of sensation, of expectation) which grander and more ambitious wines inhabit as their landscape.”
John Lanchester – The Debt To Pleasure The Chinon appellation lies in the triangle between the Vienne and Loire departments. Famous for its red wines, the vines are planted on tuffeau, the celebrated chalky bedrock of variable hardness. The town of Chinon was the favourite residence of the Plantagenet king, Henry II, and it was in the Great Hall of the château during the Hundred Years’ War that Joan of Arc acknowledged the future king Charles VII. And, of course, the great Rabelais himself lived within spitting distance of Chinon, the man who once wrote: “When I drink I think; and when I think I drink.”
village of Candes is on the confluence of the Vienne with the Loire. Most of his vines are Cabernet Franc on limestone clay, although he does have a few ares of Chenin Blanc. He is the first in his family to live solely by making wine – his grandfather practised polyculture. The grapes are harvested by hand, vinification is in conical vats. He uses pigeage and the wine is matured in 15 hl foudres for at least 18 months. These are beautifully composed examples of Cabernet Franc with cassis notes mingled with liqueur cherries and the combined impression of equilibrium, fluidity and roundness in the mouth. The Beaulieu is a humble wine, precise, pure, fresh and refreshing, a wine that is a constant gentle reminder that wines don’t have to be powerful to be beautiful. These vital, tonic wines will undoubtedly improve your chi, non?
2009 VDF “BEAULIEU” R
2000 CHINON “BEAULIEU” R
CHINON “BEAULIEU” R
2011 VDF “CUMELLE” R
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DOMAINE LES ROCHES, JEROME LENOIR, Chinon – Organic That Jérome considers an eight year old barrel “new” is a testament to how him and father before him, and his father before that and his father before that made wine (a true family affair beginning in 1900 when Jérome’s great-grandfather bought the property) , with no concessions to modernity or new styles. The domaine makes only two cuvées, a red Chinon from Cabernet Franc planted on just three hectares of the property, and microscopic amounts of white Chinon from the few rows of Chenin Blanc next to the cab franc. Like the wine-making, all the farming is old-school, everything by hand and without chemicals just like it has been done for over 100 years. The majority of the vines in the vineyard are old-growth and new plantings are done with either massale selection (meaning the vines are grafted from cuttings in the same vineyard instead of using clones) or through the use of marcottage (where one branch of a vine is trained into the soil until it starts developing its own root system). After fermenting in large wooden foudres and tronconique all the wine undergoes a long elevage in the very old wood, either foudre or bordelaise barrels, for three years and then further aging in bottle before it is released, a result of both an insistence on releasing wines the Lenoirs think are ready, and the frigid temperatures in the cellar which force the wines to mature slowly. This means that instead of releasing wines from 2013, the Lenoirs are currently selling their 2008s.
2009/10 VIN DE FRANCE ROUGE (CHINON) R
The Bretons (the perfect name for Cabernet Franc specialists) are based just north of Restigné. They live in an old but well restored farmhouse with adjacent cellars, surrounded by the vines of the Galichets vineyard. Les Galichets is but one part of their domaine, however, as the pair have about 10.5 hectares of vineyards to their name, including Les Perrières and Clos Sénéchal in Bourgueil, as well as vines in Chinon. The Breton philosophy stems, in their own words, from a love of the land. The vineyards see ultra-intense organic care, no mean feat in this northerly clime; they avoid chemical fertilisers and weedkillers, restrict yields to something like 40-45 hl/ha (although some cuvées are below 35 hl/ha) and harvest by hand. Once the grapes have arrived at the cellars they are fermented according to terroir, with those from gravelly soils going into stainless steel, whereas those from clay-limestone vineyards are fermented in old oak vats. The Bretons use indigenous yeasts and their desire for “natural” winemaking comes through strong in their resistance to the use of sulphur, with typically just 10 mg/l added at bottling to many cuvées, although some are bottled without any sulphur at all. And they are bottled unfiltered. The range kicks off with an early-bottled Bourgueil made by carbonic maceration called La Dilettante. It showcases the fruity side of the Cabernet Franc grape. With an aroma of roses, it possesses a little more structure than the Trinch, and a ripe core of juicy berry fruit. From twenty years old vines Trinch (the sound made by two glasses clinking together) planted in gravelly soil is raised in large foudres, then bottled early while it still shows of all its fruity, youthful vigour. No clunk, just clink every trip to the bottle. The Chinon Beaumont has a beautiful ruby colour, plenty of violets on the nose and is lush, tender and silky on the palate with black cherry, currant and pomegranate with earthy notes, nice herbaceousness and minerality bringing up the rear. Catherine’s brilliant natural Vouvrays are in two words – de-licious. High toned white fruit notes meld with honeycomb and goats milk wrapped in a loving shroud of sweet blossom. The Pet Nat stems from a natural fermentation in bottle, no dosage or filtration. Somewhere between cider and perry with delicate honey notes, gently effervescent. Half way down the bottle the wine becomes cloudy and vinous and finally full of skin extract. So much fun and it tastes healthy.
NV VOUVRAY LA DILETTANTE BRUT Sp
2016
VOUVRAY LA DILETTANTE SEC W
2016 GROLLEAU R
BOURGUEIL AVIS DU VIN FORT ROUGE R
2015 BOURGUEIL TRINCH! R
BOURGUEIL TRINCH! – magnum R
2015 BOURGUEIL DILETTANTE R
CHINON BEAUMONT R
2012 BOURGUEIL “PERRIERES” R
CHATEAU DE LIGRE, GATIEN FERRAND, Chinon – Organic Yep, you read those vintages right. Old but wise Chinon direct from the cellars. 1976
CHINON LA ROCHE SAINT-PAUL R
1979 CHINON LA ROCHE SAINT-PAUL R
CHINON LA ROCHE SAINT-PAUL R
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I have forgotten to tell you, Reader, that Jacques never went anywhere without a gourd filled with the best wine, which used to hang from the pommel of his saddle. Every time his master interrupted him with a question that was a little long he would unfasten his gourd, throw back his head, raise the gourd above it and pour a stream of its contents into his mouth, only putting it back when his master had stopped speaking. I have also forgotten to tell you that in moments which required reflection his first impulse was to ask his gourd. Were it a matter of resolving a moral question., discussing an event, choosing one road rather than another, beginning, continuing or abandoning a transaction, weighing up the advantages or disadvantages of a political matter, a commercial or financial speculation, the wisdom or folly of a law… his first word was, “Let us consult the gourd”, and his last word, “That is the opinion of the gourd and my own”.
DOMAINE SEBASTIEN DAVID, Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil – Organic Hare-brained person, a coiffure, and a little storm (when the hurly-burly’s done) in a wine glass. Sébastien David makes deliciously crunchy Cabernet Franc from his vineyards situated on the limestone-clay and gravels of the Loire. Eschewing chemicals and working without sulphur in the winery he makes a gratifying aromatic red. The wine looks as if it has just been born, being vermilion-hued, exuberantly fresh, brimming with cherry and cranberry goodness and a lively wriggle of liquorice. It is sapid, savoury and moreish and delicious served lightly chilled. Totally unfiltered – as if Ribena had grown up and joined the French foreign legion. 2016
SAINT-NICOLAS DE BOURGUEIL “HURLUBERLU” R
DOMAINE CHAMPALOU, CATHERINE & DIDIER CHAMPALOU, Vouvray Didier and Catherine Champalou have been established in the heart of the appellation since 1983 and have acquired over 20 hectares of Chenin. Their philosophy is simple: to create wines that respect the grape variety, the terroir and the nature of the vintage. The Champalous are registered with the Terra Vitis programme, a charter that promotes sustainable farming and respect for the environment by maintaining a good balance in the soil, the terroir and the plant and limiting chemical applications. Didier Champalou makes beautiful, ethereal Vouvray. His wines have a rounded, tender, almost buttery texture with suggestions of apples and ripe quinces sheathed in delicate threads of honey. The grapes for the Vouvray Sec are cultivated on argilo-calcaire soils and are the earliest harvested to preserve their vivacity. The wine ferments at an even cool temperature and is aged in troglodyte “cellar-caves” gouged from the limestone. The balance that the Champalous seek to achieve in this wine is “sec tendre”, in other words dry but soft and supple in the mouth. Delicious with rillettes, trout, rabbit and pork. The Cuvée des Fondraux, a demi-sec, is from densely planted 50-year-old vines propitiously located on slopes of argilo-silicieux terroir. An enticing golden colour draws you to nose an exotic bouquet of lavender honey, sweet grape and marzipan; the palate reinforces this delightful impression. Chenin Blanc like this works well with many types of food; it will accompany wild salmon, white meats and various cheeses, whilst the gorgeous floral Vouvray Brut should be sampled in a field (Elysian or otherwise) with a gobload of wild strawberries. This 114uvee was traditionally known as pétillant. The base wine for the Brut is the sec tendre which undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle with the residual sugar of the wine. The estate calls this “pétillant naturel”. The cultivation of the mousse takes place in the troglodytic cellars where the cool ambient temperature contributes to the finesse of the bubbles and the aroma of the Chenin is allowed to re-establish itself after the second fermentation. Delightful nose of honey, sweet hay and quince, lively acidity supports the rich apple fruit. Back in 1998, Champalou first released a thrilling special cuvée Le Portail from an enclosed south-facing microterroir, an extraordinarily intense oak-matured dry wine of crystalline purity and with, as the Americans would say, the whole nine yards of length. Fascinating aromas of dry pollen, amazing finesse. They make only three hundred cases of this virtuous rarity, so grab some while you can (although we would prefer if you left it for us). NV
VOUVRAY BRUT Sp
2016
VOUVRAY SEC W
2016 VOUVRAY “CUVEE DES FONDRAUX” W
VOUVRAY SEC “LE PORTAIL” W
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Judge Red – “I am the Loire!!” (Comic Book Heroes for Our Age)
You’re looking at Montlouis now (south of the yellow blob that is Vouvray)
DOMAINE FRANTZ SAUMON, Montlouis – Organic Frantz Saumon used to be a forester in both Canada and France for several years. In 2001 he decided to take over a small three hectare property in Montlouis near Tours. Frantz is another non-interventionist and works without chemicals in the vineyards. The winery is an underground cellar carved into the tuffeau, the ubiquitous fossil-rich clay of the region, and all the wines are vinified in barrels (some 228l, some 400l) only with the indigenous yeasts. Clos de Chênes is a dry wine made from Chenin grapes from a 95 year old vineyard on silex and clay. The wine is unfiltered and no sulphur is added. With its spiky personality and honeyed texture this Montlouis is designed for the most regal salmon that you can lay your mitts on. 2016
VIN DE FRANCE CUVEE FRANTZ W
2016 MONTLOUIS MINERALE + W
PET NAT ROSE REBIFFE Sp/Ro
LAURENT LEBLED, Touraine – Organic Having always been a fan of wines from the Touraine, that’s where Laurent started his search for vines and a cellar of his own. Through friends he was able to find 1.7 hectares of vines and a cellar to rent in the commune of Saint-Aignan. But, shortly after the contract for the vines was signed, the proprietor of the cellar backed out, forcing him to improvise. On short notice, he found a winery in Savigny-en-Véron, over an hour away, and rented half a hectare of Cabernet Franc on sandy soil next to it. 2010 was Laurent’s first vintage, and Sébastien Bobinet and Patrick Corbineau generously counseled him when he needed it. Now, however, he confidently runs things, producing sulfur-free, carbonically macerated reds but with a difference. His macerations last 30 days (a “typical” full carbonic maceration lasts 12 to 15 days), which gives his wines a distinctive rusticity that you don’t often find in the light, fruity vins de soif made in the same style
supersoif red, has raspberry and herbal notes, and gentle tannins. It’s made using a long 30-day carbonic fermentation from 100% Cabernet Franc planted on pure sand from a .49 hectare parcel in Chinon blended with Cab Franc from Saint-Aignan 2014
GAMAY “CA C’EST BON” R
2016 ON EST SU L’SABLE R
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San Francisco where his parents moved to in the 60s’ to follow the hippie trail. When in San Francisco, Brendan lived through the cultural revolution embodied by this city, he soon developed a passion for music, going to concerts at the Fillmore Auditorium, listening to psychedelic bands and then much later to punk musicians. His mother being French, he travelled from time to time to France and eventually moved to Blois in 1971 at the age of 15, initially to better his French, staying with his aunt. He went to high school there and passed his baccalauréat in 1974, beginning all the while to love this country. Brendan came back to California in 1977 and there, he joined several music groups of the hard-core punk movement in California, as one of these groups was looking for a singer and he happened to be a good singer. It worked well and he went on stage in the first part of events featuring The Dead Kennedys, Black Flag and the Avengers to name a few. Having kept contact with a friend whom he met during his high school years in France, he came back to France in 1980, married her and stayed in France for good. Hey, ho, let’s go!!” The Ramones’ battle cry has been a constant source of inspiration since I got started out in wine making, back in 2010. The punk rock movement taught me a few positive things about getting the nerve to do my own thing in viticulture. What’s foremost to me is the inspiration of the moment and the spontaneous energy it takes to make it all happen, without regards to conventional practices or being worried about what people might say. For example, I don’t filter my wines. I discovered organic and natural wines thanks to Thierry Puzelat, one of the pioneers in the Loire Valley. This man simply went back to basics, renewing with ancestral methods that were in vogue before the post-war industrial onslaught. Low cost, extensive production, in order to feed the starving masses, with little, or no regards to long term effects on human health, or the environment. That was the “noble” argument of the time. In my opinion, a winemaker is a humble assistant to nature. He, or she, use their technical abilities, and their creative inspiration, to make the best of an ever-changing cosmological context. Every year, each variety, terroir, and climatic situation imposes decisions on the way grapes are grown, harvested, and fermented. In that glass of wine you behold, you can see, breathe, and taste, a concentrate of an eighteen to twenty four month cycle that is the result of passion, energy, and an alternative to standardisation. He spent his training partly as Thierry Puzelat’s négoce, taking advantage of Thierry’s rigorous winemaking and vineyard management expertise. He started his own business in 2010 making wines from purchased grapes (the equivalent of 2 hectares then) and from the start he vinified the natural way, using only wild yeast and working like Thierry on reds, with semi-carbonic macerations. For the whites, Brendan got his inspiration from Philippe Tessier. Now the overall vineyard surface Brendan works from is 5 hectares. Brendan makes various wines from Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Gamay, Côt, Romorantin, Cabernet Franc and Pineau d’Aunis. Gorge Sèche is a blend of 50 % Pineau d’Aunis, 25 % Côt and 25 % Gamay. Pour Une Poignée des Raisins is a humorous reference to an iconic Western by Sergio Leone, with the would-be-Clint- Eastwood character in the foreground holding his hand ready to grasp a bottle. It’s actually the only label which Brendan didn’t design himself, even the Coinstot Vino label is his work, if inspired by the bar’s logo. It was designed by a friend- caviste in Blois who is also a designer. The grapes (50 % Pinot Noir, 50 % Côt) are also farmed organic by Franck Rio, a grower-friend in Saint Julien de Chédon along the Cher river (further east from Clos Roche Blanche and Noella Morantin). The Pinot Noir dominates the nose of this light red wine, whilst there is an agreeable perly impression in the mouth, as Brendan doesn’t add sulphur during the vinification or bottling, except for homeopathic doses on the incoming grapes .
Earthy natural style which has become a trademark of the Loire, with the savoury elements firmly in control. Medium ruby in color, lots of savoury gravel, herbaceous, and soil notes mark the bouquet, with fresh cranberry and darker fruits in a subsidiary position. There are hints of liquorice and pepper.
2015
VIN DE FRANCE LE CLOCHER GORGE SECHE R
2015 PINEAU D’AUNIS R
RUE DE LA SOIF ROSE Ro
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