Château de Villeveuve (Saumur) – magnificent new cellars

 Front of the new Château de Villeneuve winery 

Recently we dropped in on Florence and Jean-Pierre Chevallier at Château de Villeneuve in Souzay-Champigny. Jean-Pierre had time to show us quickly round their new winery, which uses the amazing cellars/caves that run under the château. The caves are extensive and remarkably dry. 

In 1969 they were sold to the Pays Nantais négociant Santejeau, which is now part of Castel Frères. Later they were used by the Saumur sparkling wine house, Veuve Amiot. Then 15 years ago Jean-Pierre bought them back and has now renovated them. Previously his wine-making facilities were above Château de Hureau a little under two kilometres further west towards Saumur. 

Jean-Pierre is currently renting his old winemaking facility at Hureau to Patrice Rétif, who used to be one of the partners in Domaine des Champs Fleuris in Turquant. Patrice with his wife Catherine now has his own domaine – Domaine des Damoiselles.

The entrance to the winery is on the 

main road from Chinon to Saumur.  

Looking down on the winery 

with the caves under the château

Fermentation tanks

(above and below)

 CRM and Jean-Pierre inspect some foudres

 New barrels 

 A couple of eggs

 

The extensive cellars

(above and below)

Root growing down through fissures in the rock

Me and my shadow

Cave privée

Sorting the just picked 2017 Cabernet Franc 

for Saumur-Champigny 

(above and below)

Events at RSJ Restaurant – Autumn 2013

Château de Saumur

Wine Tasting with Dinner (3 courses) Start at 7.15pm
Monday 16th September:     ‘Scintillating Saumur’  £49.50

We will be looking at both red and white wines from the beautiful Saumur region and tasting wines from such luminaries as Régis Neau, former French Wine maker of the year Thierry Germain and Jean-Pierre Chevallier. We will look at various different vintages including ‘Les Châtains’ (Saumur-Champigny) from the great year of 1989.
Monday 14th October:  ‘Cellar Raid’ £49.50

The archives of the RSJ Cellars are always of great interest and we shall be tasting some fascinating older bottles from our celebrated Loire vignerons including  Claude Papin’s 1997 Savennières Clos de Coulaine, Cotat’s

1988 Sancerre in magnum and Victor Lebreton’s 1990 Coteaux de L’Aubance.

Jérôme Billard

Monday 11th November: Jérôme Billard – Chinon’ £49.50

We are delighted that one of the top young wine makers in the Loire, Jérôme Billard is coming to present his wines at RSJ. Jérôme trained at Château Pétrus and Dominus in California before returning home to the family vineyards in Chinon where he is making outstanding wine. He works organically and his wines have been very well received by our clientele since we started importing from him.
Jérôme speaks excellent English and this is sure to be a fascinating evening.
For reservations please contact:

tom.king@rsj.uk.com

Tel: 020 7928 4554

RSJ Restaurant

33 Coin Street

London   SE1 9NR

Jean-Pierre Chevallier (Château de Villeneuve)@ RSJ 15th April

Jean-Pierre Chevallier during the harvest

Wine Tasting with dinner – three courses. Starts 7.15pm

Monday 15th April: Jean-Pierre Chevallier, Château deVilleneuve £49.95

We are delighted that Jean-Pierre Chevallier is coming over in April and has agreed to do a tasting here. It is several years since his last visit here and it is always a pleasure to welcome one of the world’s truly great wine makers to RSJ.Jean-Pierre returned to the beautiful family property of Château de Villeneuve in Souzay Champigny near Saumur in the 1980’s after a stint teaching oenology at the University of Bordeaux .

He quickly realised that to make great wine, not only is good work in the winery essential but it is important to do extensive work in the vineyard as well. To that end, he has been a pioneer in such things as ‘green harvesting’, bunch and leaf thinning in the summer  as well as being a strong advocate of respecting the environment  by not using herbicides and pesticides.

Greatly respected by his peers, he is much sought after by them and gives freely of his advice.

He will be showing a range of his red and white wines as well as some older vintages including:

1995 Vieilles Vignes, Saumur Champigny

1999 Le Grand Clos, Saumur-Champigny

  

For reservations please contact: tom.king@rsj.uk.com

Tel: 020-7928 4554

RSJ Restaurant
33 Coin Street
London SE1 9NR

Château de Villeneuve@Souzay-Champigny  

13th April: Yannick Amirault and Jean-Pierre Chevallier

 

Jean-Pierre Chevallier and Yannick Amirault

We had a wonderful evening with Yannick Amirault (Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil) and Jean-Pierre Chevallier (Château de Villeneuve – Saumur and Saumur-Champigny) presenting their wines.  

Wines tasted (before dinner)

Jean-Pierre Chevallier (Château de Villeneuve)
2001 Les Cormiers, Saumur Blanc
2007 Saumur Champigny 
2005 Le Grand Clos, Saumur-Champigny
1999 Le Grand Clos, Saumur-Champigny  

Yannick Amirault
2008 Coudraye, Bourgueil
2007Le Grand Clos, Bourgueil
2003 La Petite Cave, Bourgueil
2002 La Petite Cave, Bourgueil

Dinner                                                                                    
2008 Saumur Blanc, Château de Villeneuve

2007 La Mine, Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourguei, Yannick Amirault
2000 Saumur-Champigny, Château de Villeneuve
2006 Vieilles Vignes Saumur Champigny, Château de Villeneuve
2006 Les Quartiers, Bourgueil, Yannick Amirault

 Yannick Amirault

Dinner menu
Pan roasted scallops with wild mushroom risotto

Roast rib-eye of beef, spring vegetables, Jersey royals, red wine jus

Dessert: strawberry buttermilk pudding

Yannick Amirault and Jean-Pierre Chevallier 13th April

These are the wines that will be at the tasting and dinner on Tuesday 13th April:

Pre-dinner tasting 

Jean-Pierre Chevallier (Château de Villeneuve)

2005 Les Cormiers, Saumur Blanc
2008 Saumur Champigny 
2005 Le Grand Clos, Saumur-Champigny   
1999 Le Grand Clos, Saumur-Champigny   

Yannick Amirault (to be confirmed)

2007 Grand Clos, Bourgueil

2007 Coudraye, Bourgueil

2006 Malgagnes, Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil

2006 La Mine, Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil 

Dinner                                                                                    
2008 Saumur Blanc
2007 Saumur Champigny                                                    
2006 Vieilles Vignes Saumur Champigny                                

2007 La Mine, Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil  

2006 Les Quartiers, Bourgueil  

Dinner menu
Pan roasted scallops with wild mushroom risotto

Roast rib-eye of beef, spring vegetables, Jersey royals, red wine jus

Pudding - George to decide on Monday!
 

Jean-Pierre and Yannick are two of the Loire's best producers. This promises to be a great evening.  I saw Jean-Pierre yesterday and he is certainly looking forward to the tasting and dinner. There are still a few places available, please contact Tom King or Nigel Wilkinson on 020-7928 4554.  

Forthcoming events@RSJ Restaurant

Wine tastings with three course dinner starting@ 7.15pm

Tuesday 9th March:   Christophe Daviau, ‘Domaine de Bablut’              £45.00

Christophe Daviau is one of the leading growers in Anjou. The Daviau family have been involved with wine in Brissac-Quince since 1546. Christophe, who worked in Australia for some time, has been making wine organically for a number of years and has now embraced biodynamics. He makes really elegant Sauvignon as well as lovely reds from Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, dry whites from Chenin Blanc and delicious sweet wines:  Coteaux de l’Aubance.

 

He speaks good English (with a few Australian expressions) and this promises to be a really enjoyable evening.

Tuesday 13th April: Jean-Pierre Chevallier & Yannick Amirault    £45.00

We are delighted that Jean-Pierre Chevallier from Câateau de Villeneuve (Saumur Champigny & Saumur) and Yannick Amirault (Bourgueil & St Nicolas de Bourgueil) will be presenting their wines for a tasting and dinner. Both Jean-Pierre and Yannick are meticulous producers and this is shown by the consistently excellent quality of their wines year in year out.

Tuesday 11th May: Frédéric Mabileau & Vincent Roussely £45.00

Frederic and Vincent have agreed to team up to present their wines at RSJ in May. Frederic (Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, Bourgueil, Saumur and Anjou) is an old friend of ours, having attended the 10th anniversary of the restaurant when he was a very young man. He has been making outstanding wines in his own right for the past 15 years. Vincent is a new  and very successful addition addition to the RSJ list – his Touraine wines went on last year and immediately proved very popular.

For reservations please contact: 

Tom King on tom.king@rsj.uk.com

tel: 020 7928 4554


RSJ Restaurant
33 Coin Street
London
SEI 9NR

News flash: Yannick Amirault and Jean-Pierre Chevallier @ RSJ Tuesday 13th April

  

Jean-Pierre Chevallier (Château de Villeneuve)

We are delighted that two of our favourite Loire producers – Yannick Amirault (Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil) and Jean-Pierre Chevallier (Saumur-Champigny and Saumur) – will be presenting their wines at the RSJ on Tuesday 13th April. Both Yannick and Jean-Pierre are meticulous producers and this is shown by the consistent quality of their wines year in year out.

 

Yannick Amirault drawing a barrel sample from his cave in the Bourgueil hillside

We have yet to decide upon all the details of the format of the evening but we may well opt for a walk around tasting followed by dinner with a few wines selected by Yannick and Jean-Pierre to go with the meal. Cost of the event is £45.

To reserve you place please contact Tom King on 020-7928 4554 or tom.king@rsj.uk.com

Visits before the Salon des Vins de Loire

30th January 2009

Tom and Jim had very good conditions for the drive from Calais down to Saumur where we had our first visits – Thierry Germain (Domaine des Roches Neuves) and Jean-Pierre Chevallier (Château de Villeneuve). With Thierry we tasted the 2008 Saumur-Champigny and Saumur which, although just babies now, are looking promising. Thierry is continuing to look for more finesse and subtlety in his wines. The high point of our visit was a vertical tasting of Thierry's Marginale, his top Saumur-Champigny, going back to 1993 – the first vintage of this cuvée. The 2006, 2002, 1999 and 1995 were the stars of the tasting.

This rather delayed us so we got to Jean-Pierre a bit late. Fortunately this wasn't a problem as he was with a journalist from Cuisine et vins de France. We didn't taste any 2008s with JP. Instead we tasted some recent vintages. The honeyed and citric 2007 straight Saumur stood out as did the 2006 and 2007 Saumur-Champignys. JP will be releasing just one red in 2007 and this should be excellent value as it will include what would normally go to make up the Vieilles Vignes and Le Grand Clos. JP judged that the quality just wasn't there in 2007 to release his top cuvées.

Vines@Domaine des Roches Neuves

Interestingly both Thierry and Jean-Pierre talked about they way their wine styles have moved away from being influenced by Bordeaux to Burgundy. Although Cabernet Franc is a Bordeaux variety, Thierry and Jean-Pierre, who are very good friends and constantly taste each others wines, now believe that the finesse of Burgundy is more what they want than the power of Bordeaux. Certainly I think the culture of the Loire with its family units has more in common with Burgundy than Bordeaux, especially at the top end. However, one should dismiss their earlier vintages. Le Grand Clos 1996 from Château de Villeneuve, for instance, remains an extremely good wine that is aging very well.

After quickly checking our bags into the Hotel du Mail, our hotel of choice when in Angers, dinner that evening was with Christophe and Claire Daviau (Domaine de Bablut). Une Ile is run by the Gerard and Catherine Bossé, who used to have Les Tonnelles on the Isle Behuard close to Savennières. They closed Les Tonnelles in December and opened this new restaurant in Angers on 21st January. The cooking is extremely good but not cheap, particularly with sliding sterling. We chose the entry level 48€ menu – amuse bouche, St Jacques poelées au beurre de truffe, brochet de Loire au beurre blanc and dessert chocolate. After a glass of Champagne Drappier zero dosage we enjoyed the rich and subtle 2006 Les Treilles Domaine Jo Pithon.

Les Treilles is the very steep south-facing vineyard overlooking the River Layon that Jo cleared of scrub at the end of the 1990s and planted in 2000. Following his bust up last January with his business partner, entrepreneur Philip Fournier, Jo has managed to keep this special vineyard.

Off to the Salon des Vins de Loire

Tomorrow Tom and Jim are off to the annual Salon des Vins de Loire (2nd-4th February) in Angers. Nigel hopes to get out sometime during the weekend. Internet connections willing, we will be posting frequent reports on our trip here and also on Jim's Loire. First stop will be Saumur with visits to Thierry Germain and Jean-Pierre Chevallier before heading to Angers and to the Hotel du Mail.

Thierry Germain: Domaine de Roches Neuves

Jean-Pierre Chevallier: Château de Villeneuve

Harvest news from Saumur

(3 October 2008)

Looking towards the church of Souzay-Champigny
and Château de Villeneuve (right)

Jean-Pierre Chevallier

Jean Pierre Chevallier, Château de Villeneuve
Caught up with Jean-Pierre in his Les Cormiers vineyard (Chenin Blanc), close to the famous Clos des Murs. He and his pickers were busy doing a selective picking – choosing those bunches affected by noble rot and therefore too rich and powerful in alcohol to go straight into Les Cormiers, his grand vin blanc. They started yesterday afternoon and Jean-Pierre was very surprised that the juice that came out of the press was 18.4% potential. “I can’t make dry wine with that!” he said. “I’ll ferment it separately and may be I’ll make some Coteaux de Saumur again this year – not what I had intended to do.” Château de Villeneuve has made Coteaux de Saumur only twice before – in 1921 and 2003. JP is well satisfied with the quality of the fruit both Chenin and Cabernet.

What they are picking: botrytis affected grapes

What's being left to pick next week:
perfect bunches for a great dry white

“I got a special derogation from the INAO to start picking my Cabernet today as one parcel was already at 13.7% on Monday and the rest is between 12.8%-13.2% but with an acidity of 6.7. I’ll start picking the Cabernet next week.”

Thierry Germain (Domaine des Roches Neuves)
We saw Thierry on Thursday afternoon. He was hoping to start on Friday (3rd) if the weather holds. His Chenin is between 12.5%-13% potential and between 6.5 and 7.5 acidity. “The acidity levels are dropping,” said Thierry. He intends to start on his Cabernet Franc next Wednesday. “They were at 12.2% potential last Friday with the acidity at 5.5.”

Cabernet Franc in one of Thierry's vineyards (2.10.2008)

“With the high acidity levels and their thick skins the 2008 reds will be complicated to vinify well,” he says. “It will be very important not to extract a lot of tannin. With the white I will do a less severe débourbage (juice settling) than usual.”

We went with Thierry on a quick drive to look at his vines. This took in a visit to his small parcel (15 ares – 0.15 ha) francs pieds vines (ungrafted vines) planted using the old system of échalas (cultivation around a pole). Thierry’s 15 ares are planted with Cabernet Franc to the equivalent density of 10,000 vines per hectare – the average density in the region is 5500 per hectare. He is very excited as he will get the first crop off them this year as they were planted in 2004/05. “I love their purity of flavour – their freshness,” says Thierry. “The flavour is totally different to grapes from grafted vines.” This fruit will be vinified separately in 400 litre open topped barrels. Thierry hopes to get a few vintages from them before the vines are destroyed by phylloxera. The soil is sandy clay over limestone, so with luck it may take a little while for the phylloxera to get at them. “I’ve long had a dream to cultivate vines using this old system (échalas) that you’ll find in parts of Burgundy.” It can also be found in the Mosel.

Thierry in his ungrafted vineyard of Cabernet Franc

Thierry also confirmed that there will be no Marginale 2007 as the vintage wasn't good enough. Instead it will be blended into the other cuvées. Jean-Pierre Chevallier has come to a similar decision for his 2007 reds – there will be no Grand Clos or Vieilles Vignes 2007. As in 2004 and 1998 all will go into the straight Saumur-Champigny, which will be bottled in early 2009. On previous experience this should mean that the Villeneuve 2007 will be extremely good for the year and remarable value.

Antoine Foucault: getting ready for the vintage
We dropped in on Antoine at Chacé who, assisted by his cousin, was busy making final preparations for the start of the harvest of his Chenin Blanc expected early next week depending on the acidity levels. When last checked his young Chenin vines were at 12.2% and the Centenaires at 13.5% with acidity levels around 7. Antoine said that the Foucault brothers, Antoine’s father Charly and Nadi, will probably start in the middle of next week – again dependent on what happens to the acidity.

Antoine with his 2006 Domaine du Collier Saumur Blanc

We quickly tasted the Domaine du Collier 2006 Saumur Blanc, which has just been bottled – absolutely delicious (see below) as well as the 2005 La Charpentrie Saumur Blanc from 100 year old vines. This is richer reflecting both the vintage and the age of the vines but still with fine minerality.



Antoine Foucault’s stock control problem
So delicious is Antoine’s 2006 Domaine Saumur Blanc that his father, Charly, can’t keep his hands off this recently bottled wine, which has some floral aromas, a hint of butter and toast but overall a wonderful mineral purity and great length of flavour. Although the disappearing stock may be hitting Antoine’s bottom line, it’s also a huge compliment as Charly and his brother, Nadi’s, wines are the benchmark for the region.

Antoine's dog gets ready for the vintage – snoozing in the little trailer that will take the debris that's left over after being through the press

We currently have both the 2004 Saumur Blanc Domaine du Collier and the 2004 Saumur Blanc La Charpentrie from Antoine Foucault on the restaurant list.

Régis Neau, Domaine de Nerleux

Our last visit on Friday (3rd) was to see Régis. From having been a glorious morning the sky was now covered and threatening rain. There’s good news for RSJ customers, who enjoy Régis’ ever-popular Crémant de Loire.

Régis in his vines destined for Coteaux de Saumur: early November 2007

“I’ve finished picking grapes for the Crémant,” said Régis “We started on the Chardonnay on 19th September, the Chenin on 22nd and the Cabernet on 23rd/24th. We finished on 29th/30th with another parcel of Chenin. We now have 7 hectares, which we use for sparkling wine. As everywhere the yields are down this year. Normally we have 70 hl/ha – this year it’s 57 hl/ha overall. The Cabernet at 50 hl/ha and the Chenin at 65 hl/ha. We are now waiting for the Chenin and cabernet for the still wines. For the Cabernet the acidity in the best parcels is now down below 6. At Monsoreau I have some Cabernet that is between 11.2 and 12.2 with acidities between 5.2 and 6.5. The Chenin is a 12% with 7.5 acidity. It’s been very dry – we need a little rain now but not too much!”

Will be reporting from Sancerre, Pouilly etc. early next week.