Pierre-Marie and Marie Luneau-Papin@RSJ Monday 20th May

Four Luneaus: Monique, Pierre-Marie, Marie and Pierre

Wine Tasting & Dinner at RSJ Restaurant Monday 20th May

Pierre-Marie and Marie Luneau-Papin £47.95

We are delighted that Pierre-Marie and Marie Luneau will be showing their wonderful and incredibly varied range of Muscadets during this evening.
Pierre-Marie is the son of the legendary Pierre , who has been the leading light in the Muscadet region for many years and he has been working side by side with his father since 2005 in raising again the profile of this once fashionable region. Their property which exceeds 40 hectares, consists of various different terroirs and is planted for the most part with old vines and we will see how the different soils influence the flavour of the wine.

This is a great opportunity to see just how fabulous Muscadet can be when made by top vignerons and we hope that you will join us for a fascinating evening.

 The menu will be based around the classic dishes that naturally accompany the great wines from this region. Pierre-Marie and Marie speak very good English and we look forward to hearing them talk about these truly exceptional Muscadets and how they can age very well.

Amongst the wines to be tasted will be their top cuvée L’ d’Or from the 1995 and 2005 vintages as well as the Cuvée ‘Excelsior’ made from vines over 75 years old and aged on the lees for 3 years.

For reservations please contact:

RSJ Restaurant 

33 Coin Street

London 

SE1 9NR

Tel: 020 7928 4554

 E-Mail: tom.king@rsj.uk.com

Pierre pouring the 2002 Excelsior at the domaine

RSJ Wine Offer: April 2012

Jérôme Billard@Domaine de la Noblaie: June 2011

RSJ's exciting new Chinon listing – one of Chinon's leading young producers

Jérôme takes quality control very seriously! 

We have put together a selection of wines ideal for current drinking this Spring  [Please feel free to mix cases]

We include for the first time two wines from Chinon made by a very exciting young grower, Jerome Billard, Domaine de la Noblaie in Ligré, on the south bank of the Vienne.

                                                                    List                             Offer

                                                                    Price                          Price

WHITE

2010 Touraine Sauvignon, Clos Roussely        £8.70                     £7.95

Lovely fragrant fruity Sauvignon from Vincent Roussely,an outstanding young vigneron, whose wines have been received with great acclaim since we introduced them a couple of years ago.

2010 Muscadet ‘Sur Lie’ Clos des Allées           £9.70                      £8.95

Pierre Luneau has made a beautifully balanced fruity and mineral flavoured wine from this special vineyard of old vines. At recent tastings, people have been ‘blown away’ by the quality of Pierre ’s wines, completely laying to rest

their preconceived notions about Muscadet!

2009 Anjou Blanc ‘ Petit Princé’                      £10.65                      £11.25

Superb dry, honeyed and beautifully balanced Chenin.Organically produced by Christophe Daviau at the Domaine de Bablut. It has a wonderful concentration and complexity.

2010 Quincy , Domaine des Ballandors           £12.20                      £11.25

Award winning Sauvignon from Jean Tatin. This beautifully balanced wine continues to go from strength to strength.

2010 Sancerre ‘Les Pierris’                         £12.50                         £11.55

This classic Sancerre from the Champault brothers has a lovely blackcurrant nose, elegance and wonderful balance.

SPARKLING!

Crémant de Loire, Domaine de Nerleux        £11.30                         £10.40

Regis Neau’s ever popular, delicious dry sparkler is made from 70% Chenin Blanc & 30% Chardonnay and makes a wonderful aperitif!

Crémant de Loire Rosé, Domaine de Nerleux £11.30                      £10.40  Lovely pink sparkler from Régis Neau

RED

2010 Touraine Gamay, Clos Roussely            £8.70                           £7.95

Vincent Roussely’s organically made Gamay has lovely fruit with a good concentration and balance.

2010 Chinon Domaine de la Noblaie                £9.75                          £8.95

Jerome Billard’s lovely Chinon is packed with ripe fruit. It has a glorious nose of violets and has a lovely elegance and balance.

2010 Saumur Champigny, Domaine de Nerleux  £9.75                   £8.95

The Neau’s ever popular fruity Champigny is stylish and has a lovely elegance.

2010 St Nicolas de Bourgueil  ‘Les Rouillères   £11.20            £10.35

Frédéric Mabileau’s delicious St Nicolas has had a great following for a number of years. Ripe, beautifully balanced and with a lovely concentration, this wine is made organically.

2010 Sancerre Rouge ‘Les Pierris’                        £12.95               £11.95

Made from 100% Pinot Noir, this is an elegant attractive and stylish wine from the Champault brothers.

ROSÉ

2011 Chinon Rosé, Domaine de la Noblaie           £9.25               £8.55

Delicious dry rose from exciting new discovery,Jérome Billard. It is packed with ripe fruit and has a lovely concentration.

RSJ  33 Coin Street London SE1 9NR   

Tel: 020 7928 4554    E-mail: tom.king@rsj.uk.com

Monday 8th June - ‘ Real Wine’ - Philippe Lubac £45.00

Philippe Lubac

We now have a list of the wines for Philippe's 'Real wine' tasting and dinner. All of the wines will either be from biodynamic or organic producers. Philippe is the the sales manager/wine buyer from Les Caves de Pyrene, one of the UK's most adventurous and exciting wine importers.

Aperitif:
Sparkling Vouvray Brut, Pierre and Catherine Breton

The Bretons are best known for their Bourgueils and Chinons but are now making Vouvray from grapes grown for them under contract.

Pierre Breton

Whites:

Pierre Luneau: September 2008

2007 Muscadet-de-Sèvre-et-Maine, Clos des Allées, Pierre Luneau
Pierre is widely admired as one of Muscadet's top producers.

Pierre can't believe that there is so little 2008 Muscadet – very badly hit by an early April frost

2007 Vouvray, Catherine and Pierre Breton
Jim was very impressed with this at the recent Les Caves de P tasting

Antoine Foucault

2006 Saumur Blanc, Domaine du Collier, Antoine Foucault

Antoine is the son of Charly – one of the famous Foucault brothers – and is making some stunning whites.

Sebastien Riffault

2007 'Akmenine', Sancerre, Domaine Sebastien Riffault
Sebastien Riffault is a young producer with a growing reputation in Sury-en-Vaux. His Sancerres could, however, be described as 'challenging'.

Reds:

N.V Gamay d'Auvergne N.V. Jean Maupertuis

Almost certainly the first time a wine from the Auvergne has featured in an RSJ tasting. Jean Maupertuis is at Saint-Georges-sur-Allier, just south east of Clemont-Ferrand.

N.V. 'Le Cousin' Grolleau Vieilles Vignes, Domaine Cousin-Leduc, Olivier Cousin
Olivier Cousin's domaine is in Martigné-Briand, Anjou.

Thierry Puzelat

2007 Touraine KO 'In Cot we Trust' Thierry Puzelat
Thierry is a dynamic producer in Les Montils, close to Blois making Touraine, Cheverny as well as vins de pays and vins de table.

Thierry Germain in his vines: early October 2008

2008 Saumur Champigny Domaine de Roches Neuves, Thierry Germain
Thierry Germain's 'entry level' cuvée.

The order of tasting is still under discussion and the dinner menu will also be posted shortly.

There are still a few places available. To book your place, please contact Tom King or Nigel Wilkinson on 020-7928 4554 or tom.king@rsj.uk.com

Nigel's wines of the moment (1)

This is the first of new series. I will be recommending wines that I’m particularly enjoying drinking at the moment. It might be the wine that hits the spot when I have a moment to relax. Equally some new discovery that we have just added to the list.

Hence my ‘wines of the moment’! I will be updating my choice fairly regularly, although it won’t be every week. Instead it will probably every two or three weeks. Tom King has promised to badger me. Equally you could always post a comment of this blog to remind me.

Here then are my first 'wines of the moment':

White


2006 Saumur Blanc Château de Villeneuve Jean-Pierre Chevallier (£19.50*)

Jean-Pierre’s ‘basic’ white is made from 100% Chenin Blanc, part is vinified in stainless steel and some in 400 litre barrels. I love the balance of ripe fruit and acidity. It has both concentration and freshness, which can be difficult to achieve – too often you have the concentration but lose the freshness.


I’m also enjoying Pierre Luneau’s Muscadets. He is really doing some good things and they are great value. We have a range Pierre’s Muscdets – all sur lie and from the Sèvre-et-Maine – starting from 2006 Domaine Pierre de la Grange (£16.25) up to the 1990 L’Or de Pierre Luneau (£29.95). Yes, that’s not a typo it really is 1990 as Pierre’s wines age incredibly well.

Red


2006 Chinon Tradition Philippe Alliet (£22.95)

This is really quite big I thought as I poured myself a large glass of this last weekend. Going back to it a day later the acidity was starting to show through and it was fresher. This has developed a slightly gamy nose and is drinking really nicely at the moment. Nobody is making better Chinon than Philippe. Can be enjoyed now but should easily keep up to 10 years.

* Restaurant list prices.

Retail prices:
2006 Saumur Blanc Château de Villeneuve Jean-Pierre Chevallier £9.50

2006 Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine, Domaine Pierre de la Grange £6.95

1990 L’Or 1990 de Pierre Luneau Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine £12.95

2006 Chinon Tradition Philippe Alliet £10.15

Pierre, Monique and Pierre-Marie Luneau, Domaine Luneau-Papin

Pierre admires bunches of 2008 Melon de Bourgogne
destined for Excelsior

(23 and 24 September 2008)

I visited Pierre and Monique Luneau, our good friends and suppliers of Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine, on Tuesday and Wednesday. They are in the middle of harvesting – initially concentrating on the top wines that are picked by hand. I just caught this part of the harvest in time as they finished late Tuesday. When I arrived they were picking a vineyard in the nearby commune of Chapelle-Heulin. These grapes will go into Excelsior, the Luneaus’ special cuvée that spends around 36 months sur lie. Of course there was a celebration party last night for the pickers, who I gather downed a considerable quantity of Muscadet.

The rest of the harvest will be machine picked, except for a small parcel of vines in the commune of Le Loroux-Bottereau. This special vineyard is on one of the highest hills in the region. It overlooks the Marais de Goulaine, the marshland that floods during the winter, as well as the Château de Goulaine and the city of Nantes in the distance. The soil is volcanic and is called serpentine – as it was originally molten lava. These vines were bought in March by Pierre-Marie, Pierre and Monique’s son, who has been working with them since 2005.

View from the new acquired vineyard over the Marais de Goulaine and to Nantes

The Luneaus started picking on Thursday 18th September. Pierre expects the harvest to continue for another week to 10 days. Fortunately the weather forecast is pretty favourable apart from rain today. Yesterday was magnificent – sunny, blue skies and around 21˚-22˚ C.

Although the quality seems good – 10.5%-11% potential alcohol and 5.7˚ acidity, the amount of wine is well down due to the frost of 7th April. “Depending on the parcel of vines the frost destroyed between 20% and 70% of our crop,” said Monique. “Normally we would make around 55 hl/ha – 60 hl/ha,” added Pierre. “Before we started harvesting we had hoped to make 25 hl/ha but, in fact, we are going to make around 20 hl/ha.” Having visited several other Muscadet producers 20 hl/ha appears to be the average with some producers even worse hit making only 12 hl/ha.

"Where's my wine?": Pierre can't believe
that the 2008 vintage is so small

With Pierre today I tasted the must from various parcels including the Clos des Allées, Les Pierres Blanches and Excelsior. They seem very promising, although I can’t claim to have much experience of tasting Muscadet grape juice and assessing what the final wine will taste like. Then I tasted 2007, 2006 and 2005 Excelsior, which are on their lees in tank. The 2005 will be bottled in November. Following this I tasted a number of 2007s in bottle and two further vintages of Excelsior – the rich 2003 and the fine 2002. Pierre’s first vintage of Excelsior was in 2001.