2008 news from Chinon

Baudry-Dutour

Jean-Martin@the Baudry-Dutour winery in Panzoult

Jean-Martin Dutour: “I’m very happy with the quality but our bank manager isn’t happy about the volume we’ve made this year. It doesn’t take long to do a tour of all the vats! Overall our average yield is 35 hl/ha – on parts of the plain around Cravant it is only 30. We lost 10 hl/ha from the early April frost and then 10 hl/ha like everyone else from other factors during the year such as the drying wind during September and October.

But the quality is very good, although for the moment the acidities are high – there’s a lot of malic. We will have to see what happens once the malolactic fermentation is finished. We started picking around the 4th/5th October and finished on 20th. The grapes’ potential varied between 12% and 14%. Once again this year there has been no need to chaptalise.”

I ask Jean-Martin if there is another vintage that 2008 resembles. His response is commendably cautious. “It is really too early to say. It depends upon how far the acidity lessens and softens. High acidity means that the wines will age a long time but won’t necessarily get better as high acidity never softens – take 1986, for example. Certainly the reds are bigger than last year – more structured and with more substance.”

2008: Eric Nicolas Jasnières + Frédéric Mabileau (update)

View from Jasnières vineyards towards La Chartre-sur-Loir

Christine and Eric Nicolas: Domaine de Bellivière (Jasnières)
2008 is one of those dry years that we have become used to over the last few years. However, the year’s circles were different and the rain was spread at different times from normal during the year. Unfortunately it is difficult to trust Meteo France’s forecasts enough to help plan our work. It is the same during the vintage. I’m now writing this at a calmer moment after we finished the harvest just before a band of rain that we only had a few hours advance notice.

The grapes had a potential alcohol between 13%-14,2% allowing us to make dry whites and vibrant and fine reds. The reds have the potential for a great Loire vintage with delicate aromas and a fine balance of freshness and tannin. They should age well.

The whites are very similar to 2002 with a lot of variation in the stages of maturity from the ripe Chenin. The acidity levels remain high allowing them to age well. And the variations of maturity will give complex wines.

As far as volume is concerned 2008 is good without being excessive. The juice is now fermenting and the first indications are promising.

Frédéric, Sarah Ahmed (The Wine Detective)
and Thomas: August 2008

Frédéric Mabileau, St Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, Bourgueil and Anjou
Thomas Meunier (commercial director): “The fine weather held right to the end of the harvest and the grapes were properly mature. We are very happy, although it is a small harvest. Overall the average yield is 37 hl/ha. This compares to 47 hl/ha last year. Unfortunately we will only have a third of normal of Les Rouillères.

The reds already taste round though they have yet to go through the malo and the press wine is delicious. We expect that this will be the first year since 2005 that we have made L’Éclipse, which has just gone into barrel.

As last year we picked the Chenin for the Saumur in two sweeps through the vineyard. During the first on Saturday 11th October we picked the golden coloured grapes that were around 13% potential. Then we picked again two weeks later we had about 30% with noble rot and between 14.2%-14.5% potential. We are vinifying the same way as last year with 25% in new wood and the rest in tank.”

2009
We are hoping that Frédéric Mabileau will be over for a tasting at the RSJ sometime in the first part of next year and are in the process of sorting out a convenient date. Will let you know once we have confirmation.

2008 harvest: further updates

Most of the harvest is now finished with the exception of the Chenins for sweet wines, especially in Anjou. From Nantes to Pouilly-sur-Loire the quality is a lot higher than everyone feared it would be in early September. Once again, as in 2002 and 2007, the vintage has been saved by a fine September and October. Volumes, however, are certainly sharply down throughout the Loire with Muscadet particularly badly hit by the sharp frost of April 7th.

Here three more of our producers report on the 2008 vintage:

Jean-Hubert Lebreton

Jean-Hubert-Lebreton, Domaine des Rochelles: 28th October
The 2008 vintage looks very interesting thanks to the fine autumn weather which concentrated the Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Grolleau, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chenins. We have high alcohol degrees but small quantities.

We picked the Chardonnay and Sauvignon in the first week of October. Then we waited until the third week of October to first pick the Cabernet Franc followed by the Cabernet Sauvignon. The Chenin is still on the vine as we are waiting firstly for the rain that is forecast for this week to clear away and then for the grapes to reconcentrate and for the botrytis to develop. At the moment the Chenin is golden with botrytis slow to develop, so the rain should be very beneficial. We just have to be patient.

In short: 2008 is good but small.

Philippe Germain

Philippe Germain, Domaine de la Roulerie, St. Aubin de Luigné, Anjou: 28th October
2008 is a very special vintage. Right until the end of August the situation was very worrying but we had the luck to have two very good months – September and October. So the quality is there but not the volume. At La Roulerie I’m between 35%-40% down on a normal year’s production. In contrast we have degrees that vary between 12.8˚ and 13.2˚ for the Chenin with an acidity of between 5.5 and 5.8. As far as the Coteaux du Layons are concerned we are making the premier tri (first selective picking) with grapes between 12.5˚ and 18˚ and we will be continuing next week. For the reds production is even more limited with degrees between 12.5˚ and 12.8˚, which I’m quite happy about.



Champalou (Vouvray) 2008 vintage report: 31st October
We finished the harvest a week ago and are pleasantly surprised by the finesse and the richness of the grapes that we have pressed. After the poor summer we weren’t very optimistic. However, our work in the vines – deleafing and severe debudding as well as the sunny months of September and October gave us a healthy harvest with a very interesting potential: degrees from 12.5˚ at the lowest to 17˚-17.5˚ for the most concentrated. There was very little noble rot this year but had a significant concentration through passerillage (drying through sun and wind). The structure and the texture of the juice indicate that the wines will be fruity with an interesting potential to age. 2002 is the closest similar vintage with perhaps greater complexity. I think this year we will see the range of Vouvray will be from sec-tendre (off-dry) and sweets that are delicate with an emphasis on freshness and fruit – fine wines not too sugary.

Didier Champalou

Vincent and Catherine Ogereau: 2008 progress report

I caught up briefly on the phone this morning with Vincent and Catherine, Domaine Ogereau in Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay in the Layon Valley.

Vincent: Overall the vintage isn’t too bad. We have been very surprised by how little there is – lack of juice in the grapes and small berries. However, the quality across the board – Rosé de Loire, Cabernet d’Anjou, Anjou Blanc Sec and the reds – is good. We finished the Cabernet Franc last Saturday. As it was completely ready we picked all of it in a day with a big team of 20-25, including university friends of Emmanuel (Catherine and Vincent’s son). The Franc had 13% potential and the acidity had come down to 4.8 gms – 10 days ago the it had been up at 7.5-8 gms. But the yield is only 20 hl/ha!


“On Thursday we finished the Cabernet Sauvignon in the Côte de la Houssaye – potential 13.7%. As far as the sweet wines are concerned we have hardly started – just two small passages through the vines with the grapes around 18% potential. The Chenin is now about ready to pick but it’s damp this morning and unfortunately rain is forecast for Monday and Tuesday. The pity is that if we had fine weather there is only about a week’s picking left.”

Sancerre 2008: Roger Champault et fils

Receiving grapes at the Champaults' winery in Champin.

Note the conveyor on the right of the tractor.

8th October 2008

Late morning we dropped in on the Champaults in the hamlet of Champtin, which is just a couple of kilometres west of Bué. We saw Claude Champault and his father, Roger. Laurent, the other brother, was out in the vineyards.

“We started last Thursday,” said Roger, “and there are about three days harvesting left.” While we talked Claude and a couple of workers were trying to fix the belt of the conveyor that takes the grapes into the press. Machines breaking down at vintage time are always a problem. So much of the equipment, like presses and conveyors, needed during the vintage is only used for a maximum of two or three weeks in the year. Only after their long lay-off to be used almost continuously, so breakdowns are inevitable.

Using conveyors means that the fruit is treated much more gently than pumping it in through a pipe. It is very noticeable how much more care now take over the handling of grapes.

Claude had time to let me taste some of the 2008 juice, which was very clean – just as it has been with all the producers visited in Sancerre and Pouilly. “We picked the Pinot Noir in Menetou-Salon yesterday,” said Claude. “We harvest about two hectares a day and I expect that we will finish on Friday. Yields are averaging 60 hl/ha.”

As we left Claude pointed out their shiny new Italian Defranceschi pneumatic press. Just a few more days work before it gets a long rest before the 2009 vintage!

View towards hamlet of Champtin and its vineyards

Muscadet harvest 2008

2008 Melon de Bourgogne

Due to a frost on 7th April the vintage is very small this year. The average seems to be around 20 hl/ha. Fuller report to follow but for the moment a couple of photos from yesterday in the Muscadet vineyards:

Monique Luneau of Domaine Luneau-Papin