Wine Quote of the Week from La Grande Maison

"LE VIN, C'EST LE CHANT DE LA TERRE"

KAIKO TAKESHI

"WINE, IS THE SONG OF THE EARTH"

Salon des Vins de Loire 2007

Met up with Sarah Amhed - Wine Writer and Journalist at the Salon des Vins in Angers today and introduced her to our neighbouring winemakers in Le Puy Notre Dame. Here we are tasting the stunning whites of Fosse Seche with our good friend Guillaume, the winemaker.



We also tasted wines from La Tour Grise and Domaine de la Paleine who won four medals at the show which included a gold for the 2005 Domaine Paleine Rouge. Thanks go to Francoise Gourdon who was very helpful in explaining the history of the new appellation Saumur - Le Puy Notre Dame which they have been battling for 30 years to obtain. From June 2007 they will have the right to use this AOC name against their red wines.

Over to Saumur Champigny and we were pleased to see that Chateau du Hureau one of our regular visits on the wine tours was receiving the accolades it deserves with five stars from Decanter Magazine for it Lisagathe 2005.

Lucky enough to taste the early releases from Roche Neuves too. The Marginale red and the Insolite white are the wines to look out for here.

Other tastings also included the fabulous sparkling from Baumard made by the Methode Ancestral. Domaine de Sauvete with it's Sauvignon Blancs and Gamays from Touraine region and a re-visit to taste Catherine & Pierre Bretons biodynamic wines from Bourgeuil - the Nuits d'Ivresse - produced naturally without the use of any sulphur is one of our favourites.

A Wine Renaissance in Angers

Our friends Francoise and Phillipe Gourdon at La Tour Grise invited us to an exceptional wine tasting today. We made new friends, discovered new winemakers and tasted some early release 2006 wines (still too young to review).

Held at the Grenier St Jean in Angers the “Renaissance des AOC” are a group of winemakers from all over France that adhere to a chart of quality that controls the method of agriculture. They don’t claim (as a group) to be organic or biodynamic but no pesticides are used, only organic composts, all products used are natural and there is no use of chemicals.

That is only stage one however. To progress to stage two you must also harvest by hand, have a natural fermentation i.e. use no chemicals in the fermentation and manually select future vines and respect the biodiversity. The results are evident in the clarity and natural nature of all the wines we tasted.

I’ll only mention a few of note here that we got excited about:

La Ferme de la Sansonniere – Marc Angeli Anjou

2005 Coteaux de Houet – Wow ! Amber in colour. Partially fermented with the grapes dried out by over maturation i.e no botrytis (raisins passerillage) . Luscious but with a good acidity.

Domaine Jo Pithon – Anjou

Tasted 4 of his 2005 Anjou whites, 2 coteaux du layon and a quart du chaume. All exceptional and definately a vineyard we’ll be spending more time at this year. Especially loved the gravelly minerality of the anjou whites and the marmalade sugar of the sweets. The 2005 Les Bonnes Blanche is to die for.

Chateau de Coulaine – Etienne & Pascale de Bonaventure Chinon

Oh goodness we’ve found a deliciously fruity chinon in the 2005 Cuvee Bonavenutre – black fuits and liquorice and not too high in alcohol at 12.5%

All the Chinon reds we tasted here were exceptional and will definitely be on en-route to Bourgueil.

Sebastien David – St Nicoals de Bourgueil

2005 Vin de Patrimoine – tons of blackcurrant fruit, high in alcohol and great length

The Confrerie of Chinon Winemakers

Sunday in Chinon and the perfect day for a parade. Now the French are good at parading at the best of times but there are none better than the Confrerie des Vignerons i.e. the Brotherhood of Winemakers. In order to qualify you need the following:

1. A Vineyard

2. Some wine

3. A red hat

4. A red cape

5. A carved wooden walking stick

6. The latter generally carved with a wine symbol e.g. some grapes, a bottle or in this instance the winemaker himself.

Take all members of the Conferie, add assorted banners, more capes and much jovial laughter and you have a parade. Heading in the direction of the Salle des Fetes and inevitably a large sunday lunch and plenty of Chinon wine.

Sunday is also the day for the riverside brocantes (antique fairs). Not to be missed especially for those with an eye for a bargain. You can enjoy a leisurely stroll along the river and then pop into the Cafe des Arts for a hand warming hot chocolate.

Back home but not before stopping off at the market in Montsoreau to buy cheeses.