RSJ Cellar Raid – tasting and dinner: 29th January 2013

The first tasting and dinner at the RSJ will be a cellar raid featuring some vintages from the 1980s and 1990s.

The wines will be:   

Aperitif:

2011 Touraine Sauvignon, Clos Roussely, Vincent Roussely

White:

1990 Jasnières Joël Gigou

1988 Vouvray Sec Philippe Foreau

With Starter:  1995 L'd'Or Domaine Pierre Luneau-Papin

Red:

1997 Anjou Villages Prestige Vincent Ogereau

1989 Saumur Champigny Prestige  Domaine des Cordeliers, Michel Ratron

With main course:  1990 Saumur-Champigny Domaine de Nerleux, Régis Neau

Sweet:

1996 Coteaux de Saumur Domaine de Nerleux, Régis Neau

2013 RSJ Events: wine tasting and dinner 29th January

The Luneau family: L-R  – Monique, Pierre-Marie, Marie and Pierre

Tuesday 29th January: wine tasting with a three course dinner 

Start 7.15 pm with a welcome glass

Tuesday 29^th January ‘Cellar Raid’ £48.75

For our first event of 2013 we will be delving into our wine archives and will be tasting amongst other gems:

1995 Muscadet sur Lie Le L’ d’Or, Domaine Pierre Luneau-Papin

1988 Vouvray Sec, Philippe Foreau

1989 Saumur Champigny Cuvée Prestige, Michel Ratron

1997 Anjou Villages Cuvée Prestige, Vincent Ogereau

1996 Coteaux de Saumur, Domaine de Nerleux, Régis Neau

This is a great opportunity to taste some older and now very rare wines from the Loire.

For reservations please contact:

RSJ Restaurant

33 Coin Street

London

SE1 9NR 

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

The three stars of the Layon: tasting 6th September

Yves Guegniard testing his 2010 Chenin Blanc@Domaine de la Bergerie  

This much anticipated dinner featuring three stars from the Layon – Claude Papin (Château Pierre-Bise, Beaulieu-sur-Layon),   Vincent Ogereau (Saint-Lambert-du-Lattayand Yves Guegniard (Domaine de la Bergerie, Champs-sur-Layon)– is completely sold out.

The following wines will be served during the dinner:

Aperitif:  

2009 Rose de Loire, Vincent Ogereau

White:
2008 Les Pierres Girard,  Yves Guegniard
2009 Savennières, Clos de Coulaine, Claude Papin

Red:
2008 Anjou Rouge, Vincent Ogereau
2009 Anjou Rouge, Yves Guegniard

Sweets:
2007 La Soucherie, Coteaux du Layon, Claude Papin
2007 Chaume, Coteaux du Layon, Yves Guegniard

Wines at the pre-dinner tasting:

 

Vincent Ogereau:

2009 Anjou Blanc
2008 Savennières Beaupreau
2008 Anjou Villages
2008 Anjou Villages, Côte de la Houssaye

Claude Papin:

2008 Le Haut de la Garde, Anjou Blanc
2008 Savennières Roches aux Moines
2008 Le Grand Beaupreau, Savennières
2008 Anjou Villages Schistes

Yves Guegniard:

2007 Savennières La Croix Picot
2007 Le Grand Beaupreau, Savennières
2007 Anjou Villages Evanessence

Three great growers from Anjou: Vincent Ogereau, Claude Papin and Yves Guegniard

Wine Tasting with 3 course dinner at RSJ      £45            

An informal tasting with the growers will take place from 6.00 pm
and dinner with wine at 8.00pm

Monday 6th September   ‘Three great growers from Anjou’     

We are delighted that three of Anjou’s finest producers,
Claude Papin, Vincent Ogereau and Yves Guegniard will be
showing their wines on this date.

They are all based in the heart of the Coteaux du Layon and make
a full range of Anjou wines, Red, Rose, Dry white and Sweet white
from some of the best-sited vineyards in the Layon Valley.

The three are close friends and have  a joint vineyard in Savennières,
‘Clos Grand Beaupreau’. They work closely together sharing ideas,
tasting and advising on each others wines. A full list of wines being
tasted is available.

Vincent Ogereau is an ‘ intellectual’ vigneron, always happy to experiment and innovate in order to maximise the potential quality of his 24 hectare domaine.

Claude Papin is a great geological specialist and there is probably no one who knows the complex and diverse terroir of this part of Anjou better than him.

Yves Guegniard is the 7th generation of family wine growers and has been working at his 36 hectare Domaine de la Bergerie since 1979.
His philosophy is ‘respecting the authenticity and expression of terroir’. 
 

Menu:   Dived Scottish Scallop, Cod Brandade , Beurre Blanc
   Roast saddle of Lamb, seasonal vegetables, roasted new potatoes, lamb jus
Apple & hazelnut tart, vanilla ice cream

[vegetarians and non meat eaters can be catered for!]

For bookings please contact:

Tom King
RSJ Restaurant
33 Coin Street
London SE1 9NR
Tel: 020 7928 4554      E-mail: tom.king@rsj.uk.com

Harvest reports: Château de Villeneuve, Domaine Ogereau and Domaine de Bablut

9th October 2009

The church at Souzay-Champigny and Château de Villeneuve

Florence Chevallier, Château de Villeneuve, Saumur-Champigny

"We are well advanced now and I expect that we will finish on Tuesday. We started on Wednesday 30th September with the white – the Chenin was magnificent – and the Cabernet Franc on Friday 1st October. The Ban des Vendanges was for Monday 5th October but as our degrees were already high we were able to start early. Both the Cabernet and Chenin are between 13%-13.5%.

As the weather forecast was uncertain at the beginning of this week we decided there was no point in waiting, so we harvested quickly with a big group of 35 pickers. Normally we do two tris (selective pickings) with the Chenin but the grapes were so good that we picked everything in one go. Had we done a tri then the degrees in the second picking would have gone too high."

•

Vincent Ogereau, Domaine Ogereau, Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay

Vincent and Catherine Ogereau

I was delighted to learn that Vincent has now made a full recovery from his operation in May.

Vincent: "Our Chenin is really good – golden yellow. Last week we did a tri for the Layon and the grapes came in a 20% potential. The juice has very pure fruit flavours. This week I have been worried by the tropical conditions we have had – warm and humid – bringing the danger of rot developing in the Cabernet Franc. We picked for the Anjou Rouge yesterday – 12.8% potential and 4.4g acidity. it should be quite soft. Then we'll start the Cabernet Franc for the Anjou Villages on Monday. I'm out every midday in the vines tasting the grapes and the ripeness is now starting to change very quickly with the acidity dropping. We need to get on picking now – it is too risky to wait.

We've picked some Cabernet Sauvignon to make rosé, which should be superb, but I'm not sure whether the Cabernet Sauvignon will get ripe enough, so that we can make red with it. At the moment the tannins are not ripe. The very dry weather we have had since the beginning of June has slowed down the ripeness. We have a small yield for the Cabernet this year."

•

Christophe Daviau

Christophe Daviau, Domaine de Bablut, Brissac-Quincé
"I think my Cabernet Sauvignon may well be riper than my Cabernet Franc. We've picked for the Anjou Rouge, which will have short time macerating on the skins so that it is soft and easy to drink. The Cabernet Franc on the limestone (AV Petra Alba) could potentially be very good, so I'm going to leave that for a while. For the Chenin we've finished the sec for Petit Prince and Ordovicien. The juice is 'super-beau' and very aromatic. We've also done a tri for the Coteaux de l'Aubance, which was at 19%-20% potential.

I'm a little bit disappointed by the yield but that's due to the dry weather, although the small amount of rain we've had in September and October has plumped the grapes up a bit. "

Vincent Ogereau – our best wishes for his convalescence

Vincent Ogereau: vigneron and musician

We were very sorry to learn this afternoon that Vincent Ogereau (vigneron in Saint-Lamber-du-Lattay) was in hospital in May for an operation on a brain tumour. The very good news is that the tumour is not malignant and that it was not in a critical part of the brain. Apparently there is a very good team of surgeons in Angers and these days entry to the brain is via your nose. It is no longer necessary to cut open your head.

Vincent tells us that he is making a good recovery and hopes to be fully fit for the harvest, which looks at the moment likely to start around 15th September. This is excellent news as we have long admired Vincent's wines.

Our best wishes to Vincent for his convalescence.

Domaine Ogereau – Vincent, Catherine and Emmanuel

Salon trip report: 31st January 2009

Our next stop was just across the Layon to Domaine Ogereau in Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay. Catherine and Vincent are close friends of Claude and Joëlle and they work together with them in Savennières on the Clos le Grand Beaupréau venture along with Yves Guignard of Domaine de la Bergerie in Champ-sur-Layon. For the first time Emmanuel, their son, joined us for the tasting. He is now in the middle of his wine studies and is hoping to be able to arrange a stage (work experience) in Oregon.

Vincent started by saying that in 2008 they had only made around 50% of their normal volume, which is never excessive. They expect to make 850/900 hectolitres a year – in 2008 they made only 600 hls.

As usual we tasted through the range – some 2008s plus other vintages – with everything meticulously organised in advance. We tasted the rosés and reds before turning to the whites. Also as usual there wasn’t, with one notable exception that I’ll come to later, a poor wine amongst them.

Particular favourites that I picked out were: 2008 Cabernet d’Anjou: all pretty red fruits and a pure, fresh finish.

2007 Anjou Villages: quite rich for a difficult vintage. The tannins are still a little edgy, so this ideally needs another year or two in bottle. However, equally, with food I’m sure it will be fine now.

2005 Anjou Blanc Prestige (100% Chenin Blanc): while the ‘basic’ cuvee includes 20% Chardonnay. The Prestige 2005 is rich and concentrated and has thrilling energy and precision in the finish. In comparison the 2006, tasted next, although richer and fuller even than the 2005 is more ponderous.

2007 Anjou Blanc Prestige: very promising – the volume of 2006 with the energy of 2005.

2008 Coteaux du Layon Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay: citric – hints of lime, apple too. An attractive, easy-drinking Layon and picked before 20th October. The good autumn weather of 2008 came to an abrupt end in early November whereafter it rained almost every day for the rest of the month dashing hopes of some very good sweet wines. Vincent showed us what they had picked in mid-November. Even though these grapes had a potential alcohol of 17% the result was dilute not fully clean. Fascinating to taste the two different cuvées. Needless to say the second won’t be appeared under the Ogereau name but will be sold off in bulk.

Emmanuel Ogereau

2007 Coteaux du Layon Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay: wonderful purity showing the hallmark of the 2007 vintage with rich peachy fruit and citric flavours.

2003 Bonnes Blanches Coteaux du Layon Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay 2005 Bonnes Blanches Coteaux du Layon Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay
A marvellous pair of rich sweet wines with the 2003 very rich and concentrated but with good freshness in the finish. “It’s beginning to eat some of its sugar,” observed Vincent. At the moment the 2005 with its honey and citric purity and balance has it over the 2003 but in the long haul, I wonder.

We finished with the 2007 Bonnes Blanches Coteaux du Layon Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay with its exotic fruit, especially passion fruit. It’s good but decidedly overshadowed by the 2003 and 2005.

Following a very enjoyable lunch – simply but well cooked (Catherine always promises us a simple meal with no starter but cheese and dessert always follows the main course) – it was off to the Lebretons at Domaine des Rochelles in Saint-Jean-de-Mauvrets close to the Loire and north of Brissac-Quincé. (See separate post.)

(Further reports to follow.....)

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.”