Catching up with Bernard Fouquet in Vouvray

Good to catch up with Bernard Fouquet in Vouvray last week and have an update from him as to the state of play in the vineyards over there.  He says it's been a tricky year so far with more treatments than normal to keep the mildew at bay.  I asked how many times he has treated at which point he offered us a tasting from barrel of his Cuvée Marigny- an excellent tactic to dodge the question!  

It's interesting to note that in years like this when weather conditions are against them the lutte raisonnée and organic growers are having to treat often to keep the vines healthy.  Last year we were blessed with such a dry period that many growers only sprayed a couple of times throughout the entire growing season.  2012 could not be more different - some growers have sprayed 11 times this year and we've not even reached veraison yet (the point at which black skinned grape varieties start to change colour from green to pink to purple).

So, back to Bernard.  His Cuvéé Marigny is a blend - one third that has been aged in 1 wine barrels, one third in 2 wine barrels and the remaining third in new barrels.  We tasted the three different components which were remarkably different.

The wine in the 2 wine barrels (we use the expression 2 wine rather than 2 year old because it's possible to have more than one wine in a barrel in a year) had a lemon and lime citric quality. Round, full and rich on the palate and not austerely dry but with great length.   The wine in the 1 wine barrels was more spicy on the nose with a tiny hint of tannin coming through on the palate. More mineral with grapefruity notes and shorter on the finish.  The new barrel wine was full of tobacco, grapefruit and spice.  A little tannin at the end, spicy and long.  Bernard was explaining that the 1 and new barrel wines have typical Chenin acidity and they tend to change dramatically in July, coming together.  The oak used is French, made from staves that have been dried in the open air for 36 months and are medium toasted before being made into barrels.  The final wine will be blended later this month and allowed to settle for around a month in cuve before bottling.  

A hive of activity on the day we were there, Bernard was in the process of disgorging his sparkling wine, a Vouvray Mousseux Brut Zero.  He's not a fan of the freeezing process that is often used for disgorging so each bottle has to be fed into the line by hand.  His Brut Zero comes from the 2007 vintage and is absolutely delicious.  

We've been fans of Bernard's Vouvrays for a few years now.  He mentioned that he has another parcel about 200m away from the winery called Le Bouchet and is going to try to make a 'real sec' this year if the weather conditions allow it.   He's also intending to make another sec in cuve from a small parcel close to the Plan de Jean called Le Petit Clos for the 2013 vintage.  This will be a true 'sec' made from very ripe grapes and with no malo - estimated production will be 5/6,000 bottles a year. We look forward to that.

Good news for those of you in the UK too.  Majestic will be stocking his 'Cuvée les Peruches' from the autumn.  It should be retailing for just under £9 a bottle.  

Sunshine at last

Drove to St Martin de la Place yesterday to take advantage of the sunny day and check out the riverside  restaurant la Croix Rouge.  From this sunny spot you can see over to the south side of the river and the pretty hotel le Prieuré dominates the hillside. It's a pricey place to stay but has some of the best views over the river and a decent restaurant too.  

La Croix Rouge is a typical 'guingette' overlooking the river.  Open 7 days a week during the summer it's well situated for cyclists and campers as well as those looking for a simple lunch by the riverside.  We enjoyed a Leffe and watched the world go by.  I can't vouch for the food as we didn't stay for lunch but we intend to give it a try.  

Manoir des Rosiers - Le Petit Pavillon

Looking for a tiny gîte that is very very French in style but with all the things that make your life comfortable?  The Manoir des Rosiers has recently renovated one bedroom gîte 'le Petit Pavillon' for two that fits the bill perfectly.  Hidden away in the Anjou countryside it has a kitchen/living room with wood burning stove for chilly nights late in the season, a contemporary bathroom and one double bedroom.  In the garden there is lovely pool for cooling off in the summer (fat chance this year but I live in hope), hot tub (no excuse for not getting the costume on even if it's chilly) plenty of secluded shady areas for hiding with a good book and a great home cinema room in a converted barn that has a massive screen for watching films.  

It's just the kind of place that we would choose to stay.  The owners, Maïa (a former tour guide) and her husband Frédéric moved to the Loire to escape the bustle of Paris and are wonderfully welcoming. Maïa can even arrange a light supper on the night of your arrival to take away the stress of having to dash out shopping on your first evening.

They also have le 'Maison du manoir' a lovely gîte with 2 bedrooms (to sleep 4).  

A perfect place for a short break in the Loire valley and only 20 minutes from us here in Cumeray so why not build in a little Loire wine discovery while you're here.

www.lemanoirdesrosiers.com

Maïa & Frédéric Moreaux
4 rue du Pavillon
49700 Noyant-la-Plaine
France
mamoreaux@yahoo.fr
00 33 (0)2 41 83 05 25
00 33 (0)6 12 17 17 00

Fete du Velo

This weekend was the annual Fête du Vélo in the Loire valley.  Miles and miles of roads along the riverside are closed to traffic and everyone from the age of 3 to 93 gets on their bike for the day. It's a lovely annual event that everyone can enjoy from the potterer to the regular cyclist.  The weather wasn't amazing this year but it was warm and breezy - in many ways better than a scorching hot day.  These pictures were taken around the bridge in Les Rosiers/Gennes.

It's something we look forward to every year.  Hats off to the organisers who make it all run smoothly.

Saumur - views over the river Loire

A few pictures taken up by the chateau in Saumur last week.  Despite having some pretty unreliable weather recently I think the skies are great for photos.  Big white clouds and sultry black ones intermingle and show off the greens in the vegetation really well.

Domaine de la Noblaie - Chinon

A day in between tours enabled us to pop over to Chinon this morning to pick up an order from Domaine de la Noblaie in Ligré just outside Chinon.  It's a beautiful location, tucked away in the Vau Breton (valley of Cabernet Franc) and it was a glorious morning.  Elodie Peyrussie told us they had 20mm of rain yesterday.  Certainly the ground seemed sodden but thankfully for them, no hail damage. It was a rather different story driving back through the vineyards of Saumur Champigny where we saw quite severe damage in certain parcels.  

We had a huge downpour here in Cumeray yesterday afternoon accompanied by hail.  Our local fields were flooded and mud swept down on to the river road damaging the recently sown sunflowers.  In Brissac there was no rain at all - we were happily tasting wines at Domaine de Bablut shortly afterwards in the sunshine.  

 Looking down on the vineyards of Domaine de la Noblaie

It just goes to show how different each year is.  These vines will probably flower in a couple of weeks - this time last year it was all over...

A new addition to the Noblaie portfolio this year and one that we are really impressed with is its new sparkling rose called Mon Ange.

It comes under the heading of Appellation Touraine Mousseux - Jerôme Billiard took the time to explain how the wine is made.

Cabernet Franc grapes are whole bunch pressed and the wine is then partially fermented.  When there is  a little sugar left in the fermenting must, the wine is chilled, racked a couple of times and has a little sulphur added to stop it in its tracks before being bottled with a little additional yeast to kick-start the fermentation again.  This wine (the result of the 2009 vintage) is then aged on its yeasty deposit for a period of 30 months before being transported to Louis de Grenelle in Saumur which does the dégorgement on Noblaie's behalf.   A really beautiful delicate apricot colour it's a classy fizz with wonderful summer red and white fruit aromas and some yeasty complexity.  A bargain at 10€ cellar door. 

Angers market

Angers has a very good market in Place Lafayette on a Wednesday and Saturday morning.  More of a local's market than the massive one next to the Jardin du Mail, the produce is always fabulous. We went shopping with our clients this week and bought all the produce that we cooked for lunch the next day.

The French strawberries have come into season - Gariguette is my favourite variety

Beautiful artichokes - our neighbours lost a lot of theirs during the really cold spell this winter

Such vibrant colours - just makes you want to get on cooking