Vintage 2011 Update - Pierre-Jacques Druet in Bourgueil

Yesterday we were in Bourgueil with Pierre-Jacques Druet, a maverick winemaker in Benais who makes one rosé and a range of red wines from the Cabernet Franc grape variety.

The rosé is unusual. Pierre-Jaques uses an old method of production called Guillage. When we arrived he was just preparing a batch of grape juice for fermentation. After adding a little bentonite (an absorbant clay that helps clarify the juice) he chills it down to about 1° and then transfers it directly to old wooden barrels.

Having a look at the machine harvester that brings in the grapes

This is one of the barrels that will contain the fermenting juice for the rosé

Cleaning the barrel with water before filling up with the clarified juice

Having a look from above - this wine has finished fermenting and the skins are being pressed to form the press wine

After the juice has been transferred to the barrels they are transferred to his ancient cellars about half a kilometer away. These cellars, like many in the region are made of tuffeau limestone that was quarried from the 10^th century onwards leaving a labyrinth of tunnels all around the region. With a constant temperature of 12° (52F) all year and around 85% humidity, they are perfect for barrel maturation.

Guillage is an ancient method of winemaking that is little used in the region. Once the wine has been chilled and put into barrels, they are brought to the cellar and here the fermentation commences. Slowly, slowly, the yeast starts to do its work. As the cellar is cool, fermentation takes much longer than normal – 3-4 months or sometimes even longer. The barrels are kept full to the brim and each day they must be topped up and cleaned as solids rise to the top and are pushed out by the fermentation.

The result is a wine that has character, body, fruit and balance. A rosé that can be drunk with friends or accompany a meal.

Guillage - the barrels are wiped and topped up every day for 3-4 months

Solids rise to the top and around 10% of volume is lost as the fermenting wine spills over

Tasting a range of wines at the end of the morning

Pierre-Jacques is only half way through harvest. The grapes from vines planted on the sandy gravel flats have been brought in but his best parcels are taking advantage of the extra ripeness that will come over the next few days. He has a smile on his face.

You probably wouldn't even think to call in on Pierre-Jacques Druet if you drove past the winery. It's the ugliest red brick building and is quite difficult to find if you don't know where you are going. However, you are missing a real treat. Of all the producers we work with, he gives us the closest insight into his world. His passion for what he does shines through, he takes time to show and explain and what's more, his wines are excellent. Here he is talking us through the mechanics of machine harvesting, winemaking and technique of guillage.

Chateau de Minière - Bourgueil

Chateau de Minière has a tradition of being run by women over the centuries and Kathleen Van den Berghe who has recently taken over this Bourgueil estate is intent on maintaining it.

This will eventually become a delightful tasting/event area for guests

The tuffeau chateau dates back to the 17th century and has always been managed by women. It was in the same family for 2 centuries and then another family until 2010. Kathleen, (who works in construction) and her husband (who works in mining) fell in love with the chateau and are now intent on seeing this beautifully situated estate back on the map.

There have been changes since they took over the property - restoration work is well under way to produce a lovely tasting room in the chateau, a new winemaker has been employed (Eric Goujat who has 10 years experience of working in Montlouis), a small parcel has been replanted, missing vines replaced and new barrels purchased. Kathleen is a perfectionist and is looking to make big improvements in wine quality over the next few years. Purchase of the property took some time so she bought the base wine in July 2009 from the former owners to ensure that they had some wine to sell and the 2010 vintage was vinified by them under the control of the previous winemaker.

The 2011 vintage will be under their total control from grape to bottle so it will be interesting to see how the wines evolve over time.

There are around 18 hectares in total - around 2-3 in the walled clos, another 2-3 just outside with the remainder up on the nearby hill. Around 1 hectare of vines are 100 years old.

To the wines - obviously what is available now is not necessarily in the style of what will come in the future but here are my notes for the wines we tasted during our visit.

Chateau de Minière Rose 2010

Peachy apricot tones, clear and bright. Quite creamy, peachy, soft slightly lactic style on the nose. Cream soda - nice and dry on the palate.

Chevalier de Minière 2010

Nice fresh purpley colour. A little sharp on the palate, quite high acidity on the palate with a bitterness that comes through on the finish. Could use some time to soften up a bit.

Chateau de Minière 2009

Deep blackberry colour. Seems lighter in style than the Chevalier although it should be the other way round. Again, quite high acidity and quite a lot of tannin at the end although nice bramble fruit on the mid-palate.

Vieilles Vignes 2009

Part of this wine has been aged in barrels (2 wine Bordeaux). More concentration on the nose, quite aromatic. Much softer and lighter on the palate than the previous two wines. Tannins are more gentle and rounded - better.

Chateau de Minière 2008

Nice sweet bramble fruit on the nose that is missing on the 09. A hint of violets and blueberries on the palate Lightish in weight and tannins less present. Ok for drinking now.

Vieilles Vignes 2005

Deeper rubyish colour. More savoury on the nose with a slightly animal quality. Ripe stone fruit comes through on the mid-palate. Quite a bit of tannin and a dry finish.

To summarise - expect to see some big changes at this estate over the next few years. Perched along the cycle route in Bourgueil it is perfectly situated and after the restorations are finished it will be a very pretty property indeed. Kathleen has a very clear vision of what she is hoping to achieve and we can expect it to become a good wine tourism venue. Watch this space.

Bavarois de Poivrons Rouges (a red pepper mousse)

We had a ladies day here yesterday at le tasting room - three mums and two daughters joined us for a day discovering Loire valley wines in the Spring sunshine.

Here is the recipe for a very light red pepper mousse that I served for lunch with a fresh uncooked tomato sauce and a few lightly dressed salad leaves. It makes a good summer starter and although creates quite a lot of washing up, can be made the day before and then left in the fridge which is always a plus in my book.

You will need:
Half an onion finely chopped
2 tomatoes finely chopped
5 red peppers deseeded and finely chopped
A couple of tbs olive oil
seasoning

4 gelatine leaves put to soak in cold water
100ml wine vinegar
cayenne pepper
400ml whipping cream (I used creme entière)

Sweat the onion in the olive oil for about5 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and peppers and season, then leave to cook for about 8 minutes with the lid ON.

If you want to 'dress' the top of the mousse with a layer of pepper jelly then after 8 minutes, drain off 100 ml of the juices that have been released by the peppers and put to one side. Then continue cooking the peppers etc for a further 20 minutes on a medium heat with the lid OFF until they are soft and all the liquid has evaporated (It took me about a further 6 minutes to reach this stage). Take off the heat and stir in the soaked gelatine leaves until they have dissolved.

When it has cooled down a little, blitz the mixture to a purée in the magimix and then push through a sieve or a mouli-legumes (the gadget with a handle that you turn round and it pushes the purée out the bottom). This is where you slightly despair at the washing up but take heart.

Reduce the vinegar to about a third and then add to the sieved purée, season with salt and cayenne pepper.

Whip the cream in a bowl until it's firm and then fold it in gently into the purée. The more gentle you are, the lighter it will be. Make sure the purée is at room temperature. Adjust the seasoning.

Pour into a tin ( I used one with a removal bottom) that is 25cm wide and 3cm high. You can also use a pastry ring. Put in the fridge and allow to set for a minimum of 4 hours.

If you are dressing the top with the pepper jelly then gently warm the 100ml of juice that you kept and stir in one gelatine leaf that you have soaked in cold water. When it has cooled, gently pour over the top of the chilled mousse and leave it to set.

I served this with a fresh tomato sauce.

Peel and de-seed about 8 tomatoes, chop and then blitz to a puree in the magimix. Now at this point you are supposed to pass this through a sieve but I lost the will and decided to go for a rougher purée (life too short and all that). Meanwhile, heat up 50ml of olive oil with a few basil leaves, a sprig of thyme, a strip of lemon zest and a couple of strips of orange zest. Leave it on a very gentle heat for about 5 minutes so the flavours are absorbed by the oil but don't let it boil. Add the infused oil to the tomato purée, season with salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar if the tomatoes aren't super-ripe.

When you are ready to serve, take the pepper mousse out of the fridge and run a hot knife around the edge to loosen it. remove from the tin or if using the pastry ring gently pull it off. Serve in small wedges with a little of the sauce and a few dressed salad leaves.

So, not a complicated recipe but a bit of a faff. However, as I mentioned before, it keeps well in the fridge so can be made in advance and, would serve 10 -12 people - a little goes a long way.

As for a wine recommendation to serve with it - it's perfect with a dry rosé. Try a Rosé de Loire or one from one of the predominantly red appellations such as Domaine de la Noblaie's rosé (Chinon) or Pierre-Jaques Druet's rosé (Bourgueil).

Harvest in Bourgueil with Pierre-Jacques Druet

Some pictures taken at the end of last week when we visited Pierre-Jacques Druet. Despite being inundated with trailors of grapes arriving, he still found plenty of time to give us an excellent tasting and explain the process of winemaking to our clients from San Francisco.

Cabernet Franc grapes arriving at the winery

Pump is primed ready to take the free-run juice straight to a settling tank for the rosé

An amazing amount of free-run juice comes straight from the trailor

Pierre-Jacques checks the juice with his refractometer - good news - 12.5

The harvesters still find time to select a few wild mushrooms for dinner, carefully stored in a trug balanced on the front of the trailer

Once the free-run juice has stopped flowing, grapes are manually pulled into the crusher destemmer giving the 'must' which is then pumped directly into tank

Care is taken in the winery to ensure everything goes smoothly

Tank full and ready for fermentation to start