Loire Wine Salons February 2013

The big week has nearly arrived and it's time to descend on the various Wine Salons held in the Anjou region of the Loire. Gone are the days of visiting one major salon (Salon des Vins de Loire) as 'Offs' or off-shoot salons have grown year by year. This year we have the challenge of visiting all SIX - yes six different shows within the space of 3 days (although the elapsed time is over 5 days). So here is the unofficial list of what is going on, when and where. Salons are reserved for professionals in the wine trade and usually by invitation although some allow a supplementary entrance to be paid on the door in return for a glass and an extraordinary range of tastings.

 

Starting on Saturday is the Renaissance des Appellations 2015 at Greniers Saint Jean - Angers Saturday 31st January and Sunday 1st February 9h30-19h. One of our favourite salons for the quality of wines represented and showing organic and biodynamic wines with a great selection from the Loire Valley. Including :

LOIRE

- Didier Chaffardon
– Christophe Daviau
– Yves et Anne Guégniard
– Clément Baraut
– Toby Bainbridge
– Eddy Oosterlinck
– Benoit Blet
– Didier Hauret
– Olivier Lecomte
– Patrick Baudouin
– Xavier Cailleau
– Damien et Didier Richou
– Stéphane Rocher
– Th. Ducleux, JM Brousset et J. Delrieu
– Jean-François Vaillant
– Thomas Carsin
– Jo Pithon
– Nathalie et Vincent Betis
– Thierry Michon
– Joseph Landron
– Frédéric Niger Van Herck et Guy Bossard
– Sébastien Riffault
– Philippe Gilbert
– Michel Gendrier
– Michel Quenioux
– Laura Semeria
– Bruno Allion
– Louis-Jean Sylvos
– Olivier Bellanger
– Paul Gillet
– François Plouzeau
– François Chidaine
– Vincent Carème
– Hélène Fillette
– Eric Nicolas
– Philippe Delesvaux
– Maï et Kenji Hodgson
– Stéphanie et Vincent Deboutbertin
– Joël Ménard
– Thomas Batardière
– Liv Vincendeau
– Bruno Rochard
– Richard Leroy
– Rémi Bonnet
– Bernard et Benoit Landron
– Jacques Carroget
– Tessa Laroche
– Loïc Mahé
– Virginie Joly
– Yannick Amirault
– Sébastien David
– Pascal Lambert
– Etienne de Bonnaventure
– Bernard Baudry
– Guillaume Pire
– Guillaume Reynouard
– Jean-François Regnier
– Jean-Noël Million
– Mathieu Vallée
– Anne-Claude Leflaive
– Xavier Caillard
– Aymeric Hilaire
– Philippe Gourdon
– Mark Angeli

Also on the Saturday and Sunday 31st Jan - 1st February 10h - 18h is an off-shoot from Les Salons des Amis - Les Pénitentes @ Hotel de Penitents Angers. Bonhomme, Chaussard, Mosse, Puzelat and Villemade have invited a range of producers listed below with empasis on organic and natural wines.

In it's third year now but this time a new location on Sunday 1st February at the Salon Curnonsky, rue st martin, 49700 Angers (in front of the old location of the collegiale saint Martin) from 10h00 - 19h00  is the Vins Anonymes 2015. The idea of this salon is to allow a collective of young and perhaps relatively unknown vignerons show their wines that are either alternative, close to natural and authentic. Some of the vignerons represented include our neighbour Jacky RIPOCHE of LES NOADES SAUMUR along with – LA COULEE D’Ambrosia johana et jf Chene ANJOU – LAMBERT Jérôme ANJOU – CAVE BECLAIR ANJOU – GARREAU cédric ANJOU – SAURIGNY jérôme ANJOU – BOUTIN Thomas ANJOU – LES VIGNES DE BABASS ANJOU – BOREL Pierre BOURGUEIL – DOMAINE DU MORTIER maison Boisard BOURGUEIL - – COURANT XAVIER BOURGUEIL – COURTAULT Joel TOURAINE – LA LUNOTTE Foucher TOURAINE

Let's not forget another of our favourite events of the year the Dive Bouteille this time on the 1-2  February Sunday and Monday in the sous terrain setting of the caves of Ackerman. Organised by Sylvie Augereau this salon features natural wines from all over France, but also some wines from Italy and producers from the USA. This is the 15th Dive and we are sure it is going to be a popular as ever with a diverse and electic range of natural wines.

 

Many of the Loire regulars including

 – Marion Pescheux et Manuel Landron, Complémen’terre (Muscadet)
– Jérôme Bretaudeau, Bellevue (Muscadet)
– Marc Pesnot, la Sénéchalière (Muscadet)
– J Bresteau et M Houtin, Grange aux Belles (Anjou)
– Philippe Delmée (Anjou)
– Geneviève et Nicolas Bertin-Delatte,Echalier (Anjou)
– Clément Baraut (Anjou-Savennières)
– Sylvain Martinez (Anjou)
– François Saint-Lô (Anjou)
– Stéphane Erissé (Anjou)
– Nicolas Reau (Anjou)
– Eric Dubois, Clos Cristal (S-Champigny)
– Antoine Sanzay (S-Champigny)
– Bruno Dubois (S-Champigny)
– Matthieu Bouchet, Gaillard (Saumur)
– Thierry Germain, Roches Neuves (S-Champigny)
– Sylvain Dittière, Porte Saint-Jean (S-Champigny)
– Caroline et Antoine Foucault, le Collier (Saumur)
– Arnaud Lambert, Brézé (Saumur)
– Emeline et Sébastien Bobinet (S-Champigny)
– Romain Guiberteau (Saumur)
– Patrick Corbineau (Touraine-Chinon)
– Fred Sigonneau, de l’R (Chinon)
– Jérôme Lenoir, cave des Roches (Chinon)
– François Blanchard, le Grand Cléré (Touraine)
– Gérard Marula (Touraine-Chinon)
– Lise et Bertrand Jousset (Montlouis)
– Sébastien Brunet (Vouvray)
– Mathieu Cosme, Beaumont (Vouvray)
– C. et D. Delecheneau, Grange Tiphaine (Mtlouis)
– Grégory Leclerc, Chahut et Prodiges (Touraine)
– Noella Morantin (Touraine)
– Laurent Saillard (Touraine)
– Brendan Tracey (Touraine)
– Olivier Lemasson, les Vins Contés (Touraine)

Returning again this year is another newish salon La Levée de la Loire scheduled for Monday 2/3/4th February 2015 this time at the Parc des Expositions d’Angers  from 9h - 19h. This is the Association interprofessional of the Organic Wines of the Loire (Vin Bio de Loire) organised in partnership with the Renaissance, the Dive and le Salon du Logis du Gouverneur.

 


Represented from the Loire we have -

– AMIRAULT Xavier, Thierry et Agnès
– AUPETITGENDRE Claude et GOZARD Jacques
– BILLARD Jérôme
– BOISARD Fabien et Cyril
– BOURSE Quentin
– BRETON Pierre
– CAREME Vincent
– CASLOT Claudia, Franck et Bertrand
– CASLOT Stéphanie et Emmanuel
– CHANSON Ludovic
– COURANT Xavier
– COURTEMANCHE Frédéric
– DAVID Sébastien- DANSAULT Gabrièle et Régis
– DESCHAMPS Sandrine et Christophe
– DE BONNAVENTURE Pascale et Etienne
– GALBRUN Bertrand- GASNIER Fabrice
– GAUTHIER Pierre et Rodolphe
– GENDROT Fabrice
– GERARD Philippe et DETECHEVERRY Arnaud
– GROSBOIS Nicolas
– GUION Stéphane
– HERIVAULT Arnaud
– HERLIN Laurent
– JOURDAN Francis
– KLOECKE Jean-Daniel
– LAMBERT Pascal et Béatrice
– LAMBERT Patrick
– LANDRY Thierry
– MABILEAU Frédéric
– MANCEAU Jean-Max
– MERIAS Benoît
– MUREAU Stéphane
– PELLETIER Jean-Christophe
– PICHET Thomas
– PINON François
– PLAISANTIN Yves
– PLOUZEAU Marc
– RIMBAULT Sophie et ROUXELIN Anne
– ROUSSE Wilfrid
– SIGONNEAU Frédéric
– SPELTY Johann
– SYLVOS Louis-Jean
– THIBAULT Marie
– VALLEE Gérald
– VAN DEN BERGHE Kathleen
– VALLEE Gérald

Last but never least the BIG one that starts on 2nd February and runs for 3 days to the 4th February inclusive the Salon des Vins de Loire at the Parc des Expositions in Angers from 9h - 19h each day except Wednesday to 18h as everyone will want to go home as let's face it they will be exhausted by this time! It is here that the Medal Winners (Palais de Ligers) are announced along with the winners of the blog trophy, the best student sommelier and many other master classes on terroir and chenin.

Within the Salon des Vins de Loire is also the Salons des Vins de Loire Stand Collectif Vins Bio a stand for the collective of organic producers.

So you see the wine world is going to be a buzz in this area of the Loire Valley over the next week. The logistics of getting from one show to the other are going to be fun but at the least the weather is on our side at the moment but we know how precocious February can be in the region - so fingers crossed !

Previous years we had heavy snow - this years forecast is looking ok!!  

Dive Bouteille - Nul n'est censé ignorer la Loire 

© Sylvie Augereau

Happy New Vineyard Year 2013

Did you know that during the Napoleonic wars most of Europe used the Gregorian calendar. However between 1792 and 1805 France used what was known as the Republican or Napoleonic Calendar. In this all the months were renamed and years began with the foundation of the Republic at An I or Year 1. All months had 30 days except the 12th month, which had 35 or 36 on a leap year. The Republican year ran from September to August with each month named according to the season.

I've been fascinated with this calendar ever since I saw the paintings of it in the Musée Carnavalet in Paris. So I thought it would be fun to re-produce my own 21st Century version using the colours of the vineyard year.

"VENDEMIARE"

September to October was referred to as Vendemiare meaning Vintage and the month of the wine harvest.

GOLDEN VENDEMIARE

"BRUMIARE"

October to November was renamed Brumiare meaning Fog.

GREY BRUMIARE

"FRIMAIRE"

November to December was called Frimaire meaning Frost. Brrhh...

SILVER FRIMAIRE

"NIVOSE"

December to January became known as Nivose meaning Snow. Brrhhhhh...

WHITE NIVOSE

"PLUVIOSE"

January to February was Pluviose meaning Rain. Sums up a dreary cold month...

BROWN PLUVIOSE

"VENTOSE"

February to March became Ventose meaning Wind. My least favourite month and difficult to reproduce as a colour so I have called it opaque as by the end of March the sap should be rising on the pruned vines.

OPAQUE VENTOSE

"GERMINAL"

March to April was declared Germinal meaning Budding. Surprisingly in this month the little buds start to appear on the vines. From now on the vineyards start to come out of their winter dormancy and gradually more colour will start to appear in the vineyards.

GRIS GERMINAL

"FLOREAL"

April to May was considered as Floreal meaning FLOWERING. The month the little flowers start to appear on the vines. A period call floraison.

GREEN FLORIAL

"PRAIRIAL"

May to June was considered as Prairial meaning Meadows. The fields around the vineyards are starting to fill with colour now especially the rose fields.

RAINBOW PRAIRIAL

"MESSIDOR"

June to July was described as Messidor meaning Harvest. The cereal fields are starting to be harvested. Sue even went up in a microlite to catch this shot!

BEIGE MESSIDOR

"THERMIDOR"

July to August was designated Thermidor meaning Heat. Orange like a lobster thermidor?

ORANGE THERMIDOR

"FRUCTIDOR"

August to September was named Fructidor meaning Fruit.

PURPLE FRUCTIDOR


OTHER COLOURS OF THE VINEYARDS

BRIGHT GREEN

BRIGHT YELLOW

BRIGHT RED

RUSSET
BLUE

The calendar lasted for 13 years before being returned to the Gregorian Calender in 1806 by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Le Puy à Vins - Bienvenue Romain, Marie et David

With items on the menu such as : Cuisse de canard confit maison, pommes de terre sautées, ail et persil, Parmentier de boeuf avec chips de céleri, ou Financier vanille, cuit minute, sauce chocolate et glace noix, one would be forgiven for thinking we were dining in a swanky Parisian bistro. So how lucky we are to welcome chef David Beaufreton to our local village of Le Puy Notre Dame.

Under the new ownership of Romain and Marie Amblard Le Puy à Vins has had a facelift, created a menu to die for (lunch and dinner) and revamped the wine list to include many of our local favourite producers. 

 

An amazing 'Menu de Jour' at lunchtime from 13 euros Entrée/Plat or Plat/Dessert or 16 euros for the whole shabang features imaginative dishes such as Lamb Tagine with couscous.

 

Or how about a Tartine Fromage for starters...

 

....and a delcious Tarte de Banane for dessert

An even more sophisticated evening menu is offered with à la carte dining and the restaurant is open lunchtime and dinner except for Sunday when it is closed so that David and his team can have a well earned rest.

Wines feature many of the local Le Puy Notre Dame producers including many of our friends from Chateau de Fosse Seche, Les Noades, Melaric, Domaine de la Paleine and L'Echantoir to name but a few. You'll be sure to find something to suit your taste either by the glass or bottle.

 

David brings a kitchen full of new flavours to Le Puy having trained at The Box Tree in Ilkley and working as a chef in Rabat and Marrakech. We keep having to go back every week to see what is new on the menu!

Le Puy à Vins is only 5 minutes from La Grande Maison by car and a great location to walk to across the vineyards during the summer months. Cheese plates and charcuterie are also available with a glass of wine if you don't have time for the whole menu - but I am sure you will!

10 rue des Hôtels, Le Puy-Notre-Dame, FR.  

Le Puy à Vins on Facebook

On the Loire...

Where Go the Boats?

Dark brown is the river,
Golden is the sand.
It flows along for ever,
With trees on either hand.

Green leaves a-floating,
Castles of the foam,
Boats of mine a-boating -
Where will all come home?

On goes the river
And out past the mill,
Away down the valley,
Away down the hill.

Away down the river,
A hundred miles or more,
Other little children
Shall bring my boats ashore.

Robert Louis Stevenson 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894

Dine like Kings or Queens in the Loire Valley, France

Read our blog for September on Furtherafield

Now is a great time to think about travel to the Loire Valley because from late September to the end of October the grape harvest will be in full swing. In this guest blog, wine experts, Sue and Micaela, of the La Grande Maison gay friendly guest house share their Loire Valley highlights with us, and if you visit who knows you might even get the chance to pick up a pair of secateurs and join in with the ‘vendange’.

In Deep Water ! (but obviously not deep enough....)

La Loire, longest river in France and probably the most capricious. Winding it's way north over 1000 km's from the Massif Central to Orleans where it then cuts west and heads out to the Atlantic Ocean. Shallow in summer and often in full flood during the winter she is tricky to navigate in any season.

So the first challenge was to get La Sterne off her winter mooring in the Port of Le Thoureil. A bit of a tight squeeze but with a few reverse thrusts of the engine we edged our way slowly out into the current.

We left the port of Le Thoureil in sun but although the forecast looked good there were ominous clouds on the horizon.

The river was beautiful, calm and as smooth as ice as we made our way past St Maur's and the little port of La Menitré.

"There is plenty of water at the moment" - everyone had advised us before our trip. But still we felt safe knowing we had taken copies of the flow of the river and it's sandbanks on google maps. Cunningly storing them on the iPad we had devised a sort of marine offline GPS!

Safely navigating the waters under the bridge at St Mathurin, always a challenge as the current speeds up here and spits you out the otherside!

Direction La Bohale and pretty clear sailing so far with lowest reading of 1.1 metres on the depth sounder at the shallowest points. We need a minimum draft of 0.60m to clear the sands. So at this point we are still feeling pretty chipper. That was until we hit the sandbank. The 'sonder' had been reading 1.2m ish but it was already too late (And, no, we weren't waving to friends on the shore) as we grounded 6 tons of 'toue cabanée' into the sand at a depth of only 0.20m of water. No amount of pushing with poles and gaffes was going to free her. We were well and truly stuck.

There aren't many boats out on the Loire at this time of year. Usually none...so how lucky were we to find the gabare, La Nonchalante, making her way up stream to her winter mooring in St Hilaire-St Florent. Somehow their noble crew managed to miraculously navigate the shallows and after several attempts holding her off against the current managed to throw us a line. Within seconds we were pulled off the sandbank and floating free. The crew of La Nochalante are probably still waiting in the bar for the drink we owe them but we never made it back that evening.

Hail and dark clouds descend as La Nochalante follows us back up stream. La Sterne was struggling against the current with a blocked filter full of sand and soon an alarm was going off in the cabin signaling engine problems.

Don't panic we'll just take a few photos of rainbows and hope the alarm stops ;) - no seriously it was time to moor up and sort out the problem before the engine completely exploded.

We managed to come alongside the quay in St Mathurin and moor up. Time to take stock and let the adrenalin levels subside for a moment. In fact let's stop here the night and sort the engine out in the morning in a calm manner. We like this idea as there are a couple of good restaurants in St Mathurin and we were ready for a glass of wine!

Took some amazing riverside strolls and watched the sunset over 'La Loire.'

Idyllic place to stop for the night with the boat well protected out of the current.

We were greeted by the most amazing sunrise the next morning over the bow of the boat.

Whilst Sue enjoyed a cup of tea all warm and cosy in the bunk.....

....I pretended to know what I was doing to fix a Yamaha 50cv engine!

Clear blue skies but the wind is getting very cold.

Having effected the engine repairs by un-blocking the filter and adding more oil to the engine (just in case this might help) we decided we would head back to port at Le Thoureil. The forecast was about to turn nasty and we didn't want to risk getting stuck so we started to head for home.

Back in home waters and sailing round the Ile de Baure.

Returning back to the Port waters starting to get a little choppy.

Pheeew just got La Sterne back on her mooring in time for the snow to start falling.

Getting chilly!

We managed to track down La Nochalante in the snow a fews days later and left a case of wine on board. Our thanks go out to the crew for helping us out of what could have been a long cold wait in the middle of the Loire had they not been passing by and willing to help us out.

If you want to experience life on the Loire in warmer conditions then why not join us on one of our Boat & Wine Tours. More details can be found on the link here. Happy Sailing!!