Although there is no confirmation from the Montlouis syndicat yet, my suspicions are sufficiently raised to post on this latest piece of trouble for InterLoire. I understand that, following the lead of the Bourgueil syndicat which ditched the regional body and went it alone in 2011, the growers’ syndicat in Montlouis are about to do the same.

For those not entirely familiar with the way InterLoire works, it is a regional body which promotes the wines of the Loire, by a variety of means. It’s most significant act is surely the annual Salon des Vins de Loire, held in a gigantic exhibition centre just outside Angers every February. InterLoire’s funding comes from its members, and so naturally they expect something in return for their money. The problem is that some feel they get very little for their (costly) annual subscription, and some want out.

This latest rumour comes from a variety of sources, including one who confirmed that a meeting of the syndicat had been held this week, on Wednesday. Not being a member themselves they were unable to tell me what the conclusion of the meeting had been, but it seems that a divorce from InterLoire was on the agenda.

The Montlouis syndicat’s current president is none other that François Chidaine (pictured right – and no, I can’t wait to hit the Salon with my Canon 5D next year and take a better photograph), who will be familiar to any fan of the wines of the Loire. Until January this year he sat on the InterLoire executive committee, but he resigned following irreconcilable differences with the body. He disclosed that the InterLoire budget was €8.5m, money which he said was “misused“, with a focus on Touraine primeur which cost €900 000 a particular bugbear. The organisation of the annual Salon des Vins de Loire also came in for criticism, which doesn’t surprise me. The decision to shift the dates of the 2012 Salon by one week, thus distancing it from the ‘off’ events such as Renaissance des Appellations, might have pleased the more petty-minded bean-counters but looking at the bigger picture it did nothing for the promotion of the wines of its members or those who travel to the Loire to ‘do the promoting’ (by which I mean tasting and reporting). Overall, said Chidaine, the organisation is “a big bureaucratic machine and doesn’t deliver value for money“.

Little surprise then that, less than one year later, rumours have surfaced about Montlouis’ impending departure. I contacted Lise Jousset in Montlouis (well actually, I contacted a number of vignerons, but Lise actually responded!) with a simple question; is Montlouis about to leave InterLoire? Her reply was short – the sort you give when you know you shouldn’t say too much – and yet hugely informative. “For information on this subject“, she wrote, “you must contact our president François Chidaine“. Which of course I already had, without any response, but slowly the wheels and cogs turned, and eventually – perhaps having been prodded somewhere – the reply came from François; “The syndicat will make no comment on this matter at this time“. Neither response, tellingly, was “I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about“, and François Chidaine’s answer clearly indicates there will be news to come concerning Montlouis and InterLoire.

As I see it, it’s only a matter of time. The decree nisi is in the post.

Filed under: Loire
Posted by Chris Kissack on November 17, 2012 at 11:40 am
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I thought I should just make a brief post to inform readers as to forthcoming updates, with particular relevance to St Emilion.

Over the last year I have spent a lot of time in Bordeaux, not just for the primeurs but also on subsequent visits during the summer and in October as harvest kicked off. On several of the visits I focused on Sauternes, and built up a database of images for the region. On the back of that, I updated and expanded all my Sauternes profiles, from my eight-page examination of Yquem down to lesser-known châteaux such as the recently profiled Liot.

For the moment that’s it; although I have some notes on Partarrieu and Romer du Hayot to add, I will get around to adding these château profiles as and when I can. Now it is time to move on, and I’ve started with Pessac-Léognan this week, with an update and expansion of my Smith-Haut-Lafitte profile. This is in fact part of a programme of updates and new profiles that will eventually cover as much of Bordeaux in as much detail as is possible, and not just the pricy grand cru classé estates, but also better value châteaux; that’s why I’ve been adding profiles like Bauduc, L’A, La Croix Lartigue, d’Aiguilhe and the like (with more to come).

And eventually I will get around to St Emilion. At present I’m aware that many of profiles tended towards obsolescence with the St Emilion reclassification having finally been ratified this week, (and some châteaux such as La Mondotte (above) and Valandraud (below) still need to be profiled in the first place). I have been keeping more up to date in recent months, making weekend updates to ensure profiles remain relevant – today’s
Pichon-Lalande update is one such example. Nevertheless, rather than hurriedly insert a reference to the latest reclassification into each pre-existing St Emilion profile, I have decided I will leave them as they are for now, and subject each one to a more thorough update/expansion/rewrite as required once I have done updating Pessac-Léognan. The fact that my database of images includes a huge number of St Emilion personalities and estates is another reason for taking this route; I want to add these to my many profiles. I have, however, extensively updated my guide to the St Emilion classification, and I have also updated the left-hand manu that accompanies every St Emilion profile to reflect the new listing.

As for the Loire, I will continue to add some updates based on my tastings earlier this year, and will probably begin some more significant overhauls of the more detailed profiles early next year, when I have had a chance to visit the region once again.

Filed under: Bordeaux, Loire
Posted by Chris Kissack on November 16, 2012 at 3:51 pm
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Another message from Loire courtier Charles Sydney, received yesterday, following on from his previous Loire 2012 report:

The 2012 harvest is pretty well over, with just a few parcelles of chenin hanging out in the Layon, waiting for the weather to go cold, sunny and windy (the forecast is good), in which case we may get some stickies this year after all. Keep praying!

Otherwise:

Dry whites – Sauvignon & Muscadet: as per, quality is good to fantastic in Muscadet, Touraine, Sancerre & Pouilly Fumé, with the Muscadets promising to be among the best ever. Quantities are way down in Muscadet and Touraine but look fine in Sancerre & Pouilly.

Muscadet’s yields are a problem and compounded by the appellation going from 13000 hectares to under 8000 as growers have ripped up or abandoned 40% of the vineyards since the 2008 frosts as bulk prices have been way below production costs. Luckily the serious single estates have survived so far. Hopefully you’ll be able to use the quality of the vintage to really put across to the consumer just how attractive this appellation can be.

Reds – Cabernet Franc: starting 2 weeks later than average (and a month later than last year) was always going to be a gamble, so the rains at the end of September that helped ripen the Sauvignons were less of a blessing here, especially as the last couple of weeks have seen about 5 inches of rain. That said, there’s been hardly any rot until this week (picking is now effectively over) so although there’s obviously been some concentration lost as growers waited for ripeness, this should be a pretty and easy-drinking vintage for the Cabernet Francs.

Reds – Pinots: Our guys in Sancerre and over in St Pourçain are pretty ecstatic about quality, with lovely ripeness – and the concentration that comes with low yields. With 35 hectolitres/hectare, winemaker Sylvain Miniot in St Pourçain reckons they lost more through the grapes being roasted by the sun and drought than they did through hail or frost.

Chenin Blanc – Vouvray, Montlouis & the Anjou: First things first : there won’t be any great moelleux this year – but growers have stocks of the truly great 2010 and 2011 vintages, so that’s not a problem.

For dry and off-dry Chenins, things are looking surprisingly good, though again, yields are down. In Vouvray and Montlouis the juice is tasting fresh, clean and nicely aromatic. Less concentration than 2009 and 2010 especially, but this should make for a pretty, consumer-friendly vintage – and growers like Jacky Blot, who really did a serious ‘tri’ at harvest should make some super ‘secs’.

Meanwhile, the hand-picked chenins of the Anjou are promising to be really lovely, with some real ripeness and concentration.

The proof of the pudding is of course in the eating, and we’re about to start tasting with our growers all along the Loire. We expect to send you a ‘real’ vintage report early in the New Year.

Enjoy! – Charles.

Filed under: Loire
Posted by Chris Kissack on October 27, 2012 at 5:53 am
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Charles Sydney will probably not be an unfamiliar name to most Winedoctor readers. Charles works as a courtier in the Loire, making connections between vignerons and retailers, and even fashioning a range of special cuvées – working with a number of his vignerons – under his La Grille label, which has achieved some very good shelf positions in the UK. He’s always ready with a report on the Loire harvest. I received this message from Charles on October 8th. My apologies for taking so long to publish it here.

Over to Charles:

Bit grey out there today, so we’re back in the office with a chance to catch up on the harvest.

First things first : we’ve watched Muscadet, Touraine, Sancerre (harvest pictured below) and Pouilly coming in and quality looks really, really good.

Which is almost miraculous after a year when growers have faced everything from spring frosts to hail, mildew and – worst of all – a drought that lasted all through the summer and right up to the first days of picking.

The result is a teeny harvest in Muscadet – at a mere 20 – 25 hectolitres/hectare it’s around 50% down (which is just what the guys in Muscadet didn’t need), but with a quality that I don’t remember being priviliged to see before… lovely ripe, golden, almost viscous juice with bags of flavour and a nice touch of acidity to balance. Sort of 2003 crossed with 2010.

In the Touraine, Sauvignon yields vary from 18 to 50 hectolitres/hectare – a range in part due to the pressures of frost and much to the individuals’ willingness and ability to keep things under control. The juice is great – loads of flavour and a tingle of acidity.

Meanwhile, up in Sancerre and Pouilly things are looking even better, with just enough rain pre-harvest to soften the skins enough to let the guys press the grapes! Yields look OK (say 50 hectolitres/hectare) and quality is looking lovely with hardly a rotten grape to be seen (as pictured above). Jean-Marie Bourgeois compared it to a cross between 2002 and 2009.

‘Ouf!’ as they say!

Vouvray and Montlouis are sort of starting – and we’ll keep our fingers crossed for the reds.

More anon!

Thanks for this report Charles. It loks as though in the Loire, as with my experiences during my recent visit to Bordeaux, the dry whites are promising much. Yields may be down (bad news for the growers, but not usually for drinkers, despite theoretical concerns about availability) but the juices sound rich and flavoursome and, importantly, as they were in Bordeaux, rich in vibrant acidity.

The concern here, as it was/is in Bordeaux, is with the later-picked fruit for the red wines and of course – in both regions – the sweet wines. I don’t feel a great deal of optimism for either at present.

Filed under: Loire
Posted by Chris Kissack on October 17, 2012 at 2:22 pm
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I am pleased to be able to bring you some news on the 2012 vintage from Muscadet, from Marie Chartier-Luneau, of Domaine Luneau-Papin. It looks as though 2012 will be superior to 2011, which was a vintage bedogged by rot (although the 2011 Luneau-Papin wines showed no such problems rot was evident elsewhere, including some leading domaines), although quantities are down. So, good news for us, provided quantities aren’t so tiny that the wines are unobtainable (that isn’t a problem I have ever encountered in Muscadet, even after the miniscule frost-bitten 2008 vintage), but not a perfect vintage for the vignerons who have less wine to sell.

Here’s Marie’s report. I’ve edited it only slightly:

The big ballet of pickers started on last Monday, the 24th at 8am and we propose you a small survey of this vintage 2012 before tasting, together, the freshly pressed juices or this winter, after a few months on their Lies.

Pruning started at the beginning of November, in a wintry atmosphere the temperatures of which often flirted with the negative. At the end of January the beginning of February, the frost, the snow (rather rare to us) consolidated the presence of heaters in pockets and fires of fireplace! (There are some pictures of the snow-bound vineyards in the update linked above, taken when I visited Luneau-Papin in February 2012 – Chris)

This period is a good time for waterfowl and ground-game cooking and to open and taste great wines from friends, winegroovers (I’m not sure if that is a typo or not – anyway, I rather enjoy the idea of ‘winegroovers’ so I have left it as is – Chris) in their own countries!

The spring began early, too early according to “grandma Jeannette” (the mom of Monique and memory of our plots. March and April replaced the sun with the rain and the wind! Gloomy weather continued until July in the Nantes country.

The flowering was not thus able, this year, to generate the full yield of grapes, having been disturbed by the rain. At the end of July, the summer finally arrived, and the shone with one thousand lights!

In August it was warm and since then the higher temperatures and the blue sky have not weakened. The freshness is felt in the morning, from today, but the sky remains beautiful and the bunches look delightful too!

We estimate 12° – 12.5° in the juices harvested today, and we wait for a reduction in the acidities on several plots; what we call the optimal maturity.

On Monday (this will be Monday 24th – Chris), 35 pickers and 5 carriers plunged their hands into our rows of vines.

Conclusion: this year, we are going to make good quality but little! You can already plan to stash away some bottles for keeping but we shall harvest and will thus serve first and foremost our regular customers: you!

We wish you all in good ealth and wish to clink glasses together to honour this great vintage!

Pierre, Monique, Pierre-Marie & Marie Luneau

Filed under: Loire
Posted by Chris Kissack on September 26, 2012 at 9:39 am
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I was saddened to learn last night of the death of one of the Loire Valley’s more inspirational vignerons, Christian Chaussard.

Christian Chaussard (pictured above at the Real Wine Fair, London, July 2012) has a place in the hearts of many Loire vignerons, having taught at the Lycée Viticole in Amboise for much of the 1990s. Although the syllabus naturally focused on ‘traditional’ (i.e. chemical-heavy) viticulture and winemaking, Christian had a reputation for slipping in references to organic and more ecologically-sound methods, which didn’t always go down too well with his superiors. Nevertheless it meant many saw him as an important figure in the more organic, ‘natural’ side of Loire Valley viticulture.

This was over ten years ago now, and much has changed in the interim. At that time Christian worked in Vouvray, but he was ultimately forced to quit due to financial difficulties. He also handed in his notice at Amboise, and spent some time travelling, which was when he met his partner Nathalie Gaubichet, a Swiss actress, comedienne and sommelier (quite a combination!). Together they returned to France, and in 2002 they eventually settled in the Jasnières region, establishing Domaine Le Briseau. A few years later came a négoce business, Nana, Vins & Cie. The wines feature Chenin Blanc (Chaussad’s original love, harking back to his days in Vouvray) and Pineau d’Aunis, and include labels such as Patapon and Kharaktêr, both of which will be very familiar to fans of Le Briseau and ‘natural’ wine. Christian was also president of La Mission de l’Association des Vins Naturels.

I understand that yesterday, September 4th, Christian was at work when he was killed in a tractor accident. I also believe he was currently battling cancer, which was in an advanced stage. A close confidant and friend – as I said, there were many Loire vignerons inspired and enthused by Christian – informed me last night of the tragedy. My condolences go out to Nathalie Gaubichet and their family.

Filed under: Loire
Posted by Chris Kissack on September 5, 2012 at 6:32 am
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Below are notes on four recent vintages of Pol Roger, showing the consistent quality that can be found in the wines of this particular Champagne house. I would have liked to add a note on the 2002 as well, but have realised in recent years that I can’t buy (and thus can’t feature) every wine that interests me. Besides, I often think my time might be better spent promulgating the virtues of fizz from Thierry Germain, Huet and Château de l’Aulée and the like rather than wealthy Champagne houses that already have a very strong brand identity and probably a fairly deep-pocketed advertising budget. Although I can’t follow that argument any further I think…..otherwise I would have to stop updating all my Bordeaux profiles…..

Anyway, on with the wines.

Pol Roger Brut 2000: Quite a rich hue in the glass, fresh and golden but with plenty of bright colour. A nice, moderately fine bead. The fresh appearance in the glass is more than matched by the nose which is all exuberant fruit, citrus and white peach, with a delicious undercurrent of fresh almonds and a little hint of richer cashew nut. But overall the appeal here is the bright and vibrant lift the nose seems to suggest, with piles of accessible fruit. And the palate doesn’t disappoint, bringing an appealing edge of sourness to the fruit, but with a lightly creamy texture which is offset very nicely by the combination of a gentle, prickling mousse and correct acidity. Such lovely balance! And it has some length in the finish too. This is very good indeed; it perhaps misses the most complex of characteristics, but it remains utterly charming. 17.5/20 (August 2012)

Pol Roger Brut 1999: A pale golden hue here, plenty of pressure behind the cork matched by a very fine but effusive bead in the glass. The aromatics are open and expressive, lemon fruit and white peach, smoky and lightly reductive, with a very grey character to it. There are little elements of nut though, although in a very straight and pure fashion, like blanched cashew nuts or almonds. The fruit has a lightly dried and concentrated character to it as well. The palate is full, rich, really quite creamy and bright, rolling around the mouth showing off its texture first, before the bright and acid-tinged lemony fruit flavours come through in the middle. Super character here, very sappy and cleansing, and clearly with bags of potential yet. Long and defined in the finish. 18/20 (August 2012)

Pol Roger Brut 1998: Another rich, lemon-gold hue here, and with a lively bead too, although it soon settles down. The nose is full of bruised apples at first, but with some air these notes blow off to leave a cleaner and more intense fruit character, moving more into a peachy richness, with a dried-fruit concentration to it. And this is followed, with time, by notes of almonds, brazil nuts, caramel and cream, but it remains fresh, lifted and lemony throughout. Lovely character on the palate, evolving nicely, rich but with plenty of lift behind it, showing flavours mirroring the nose but contrasted by a sappy fruit acid. The flavours have moved on only a little from my last taste four years ago, but there is a more polished, long and gentle feel to it. Delicious wine. 17.5/20 (August 2012)

Pol Roger Brut 1996: A richer colour compared with the other wines, a fine golden hue. A fine bead too. The nose has a lovely cashew nut character to it, and this runs underneath the sweet fruit with its evolved, citrus, tropical undertones. It has a lovely presence, showing appealing tinges of maturity in the shape of caramel and coffee. Yet there is plenty of vigour, acid and sparkle on the palate at first too, and this confident, vigorous showing persists through the finish. Plenty of citrus freshness to it, great definition, and yet a supple flesh and substance as well. This is really superb, evolving and yet remaining vigorous, acid-bound and long. This vintage certainly has years ahead of it yet. 18.5/20 (August 2012)

Filed under: Champagne, Loire
Posted by Chris Kissack on August 27, 2012 at 12:17 pm
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I’m sorry to have to report that one of my favourite merchants, Artisan Wines, has been forced to cease trading.

Other demands on the time of proprietor Andrew Kerr has forced Andrew into making the difficult decision to close down the operation. In Andrew’s words “We’ve come to the conclusion that we need to put Artisan Wines on the back burner for a year or two as, at the moment, we don’t have enough time to devote to it.” Perhaps the troubled economy has also played its part; despite recent good news about the average spend per bottle going up in the UK (more people than ever are spending over £10 per bottle it seems) maintaining sales of esoteric natural, organic and biodynamic wines in an online-only part-time operation must be a very trying occupation.

This is a great shame; although Andrew ran this online retail business in his spare time, sourcing and importing the wines himself, it was a professional operation and it was a valuable source of wines from some of the Loire’s greatest names, not least Clos Rougeard, Domaine de Bellivière, Ferme de la Sansonnière, Domaine de l’Ecu and others, as well as a selection of wines of similar quality from the Rhône. Although naturally, for me, it was the Loire that was the major interest here.

Now that Andrew has taken his website down (www.artisanwines.co.uk now returns a ‘disabled’ message) sadly I fear this is the last we will see of Artisan Wines. Nevertheless I sincerely hope Andrew does indeed return to retail, for purely selfish reasons (a reliable source of Clos Rougeard can be hard to find!) and if I have any news on sale of stock, or an Artisan revival, naturally I will post it here.

Filed under: Loire
Posted by Chris Kissack on August 22, 2012 at 10:29 am
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My profile of Château Lafleur posted earlier this week contains a lot of information on the terroirs – or at the very least the soils – of the Lafleur vineyard. Reflecting on my recent visit to meet Jacques Guinaudeau and look at this very special Pomerol vineyard got me thinking about terroir, how people use and interpret the word, and whether or not there were any other possible explanations for what we call terroir.

When I first became aware of the concept of terroir, the prevailing view was that it was something overtly detectable in a wine. For instance, at a Château Talbot tasting I attended many years ago, a taster with far more years and much more tasting experience behind him than I had leaned back in his chair and sighed “ahh…. the gôut de terroir…. lovely”. The gamey, horsey edge on the wine in question was to him something related to the soils of Talbot. Of course, despite his experience, he was wrong; many years later I realised what we had tasted that evening was nothing more than Brettanomyces. But it was a good example of how many people viewed terroir. The idea that Mosel Riesling tastes slatey because of the slate on which it grows (and I often get a ‘sandy’ feel when tasting lesser St Emilion – but I don’t see many/any others reporting this) is another example of terroir misconstrued. Vine roots can’t absorb ‘molecules’ of sand or slate. Both sensations are quite plausibly the result of auto-suggestion, the idea that we are tasting the soil itself is vaguely nonsensical, and both provide plenty of ammunition for those arguing against the existence of terroir.

I think that terroir is an important determinant of how wine tastes is self-evident though. Taste two wines from one vigneron that he or she has managed the same way in vineyard and cellar; to appreciate the differences between the wines is to appreciate the impact of terroir. The wines of Lafleur don’t quite count, because although the grand vin comes from three terroirs, and the second wine from a fourth, the vinifications are different, introducing a second variable. You need a vigneron making several wines in exactly the same fashion to see the impact of terroir. It’s easiest in Burgundy, where one man or woman might have several wines from several vineyards, all harvested and vinified in the same manner, and yet they taste different. That’s terroir.

Thinking back for comparable experiences from my own tasting history in Bordeaux or the Loire doesn’t produce a plethora of examples, but here are a couple, both from the Loire. A visit to Château de la Roulerie a couple of years ago brought several tastes from different barrels from different sections of the vineyard, the vines managed in the same manner, the vinifications the same, and yet the wines were profoundly different. The same was true when I tasted the component barrels with Richard Leroy (pictured above – inspecting his terroir, perhaps), before blending. Different sections of the same vineyard, same variety, same pruning, same vinification, same wood, but different wines. That’s terroir – it’s the difference between two wines, rather than intrinsic characteristics within each wine, that is down to terroir.

Reflecting on that conclusion, I have wondered whether there are any other plausible explanations for why wines from different vineyards, or even from different sections of the same vineyard, should taste so different. The only one that looked remotely promising was the impact of yeasts. Could different yeast populations in the two vineyards account for the differences?

There are those out there who think this possible, and indeed there are some who have wondered out loud why yeasts shouldn’t be included in the terroir ‘definition’. I have a problem with this though. Although there is no doubt that yeasts come into the winery on the fruit, and start fermentation, much of the fermentation process is completed by yeasts – specifically Saccharomyces cerevisiae – which are resident in the winery. [As an aside, there's plenty of research on this out there, and I recall Jamie Goode wrote a nice article on it for the World of Fine Wine a year ago. I also recall I wrote a lengthy letter in response, published two issues later (I was a bit slow in responding!) picking holes in the science.] Hence, because it is largely the winery yeasts that do the work, the two wines from the two different plots will largely be fermented by the same population of yeasts, removing this as a variable which could account for the ‘terroir‘ differences. Secondly, it seems likely that the population of yeasts within a vineyard will change over time. If yeast differences are responsible for terroir differences, why do some vineyards produce wines with identifiable characteristics year after year? Lastly, what about different sections of the same vineyard yielding different wines? Are we supposed to accept that the yeasts population is so diverse it differs from row to row?

So although yeasts can have a huge impact on flavour (this is an important consideration when purchasing cultured yeasts), when it comes to wines that are fermented spontaneously by indigenous yeasts, I doubt the yeasts play a very large part (or at least a very large consistent part) in the flavour differences we find between wines. Having said that, arguing for their role makes for good debate, so I hope research into how yeasts can affect flavour continues.

So terroir matters. It’s in the soil. But it’s not in the wine (or rather it’s not directly translated into an easily identifiable taste that makes for easy conclusions, like slatey Riesling or sandy St Emilion, although as I have alluded above some vineyards do behave in the same manner year after year). It’s in the differences between the wines that we can find it. When you look at it that way, it seems to me that the importance (or indeed, existence) of terroir is impossible to refute. Why else do wines made by the same people, in the same vintage, vinified in the same way, show such profound diversity?

Filed under: Loire
Posted by Chris Kissack on August 16, 2012 at 10:31 am
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One of the delights of the Loire is the strong array of sparkling wines now available. Once, many years ago, I thought Loire fizz was limited to Saumur. Then I discovered Crémant de Loire, and Vouvray, and then Montlouis. More recently there has been a revival of the méthode ancestrale to give us what is commonly known as pétillant naturel. Indeed, thanks to the increasing acceptance of Vin de France, vignerons with an experimental streak can make just about whatever style they fancy these days, pétillant naturel or otherwise, using whatever variety they have to hand.

Last week’s wine of the week is an example of the latter, the latest release (officially a non-vintage cuvée, but actually 2011) of Boisson Rouge from Domaine de Montrieux. Below I report on two examples of the other aforementioned styles, one Saumur and one Crémant de Loire, both from highly talented winemakers, including one who put in 15 years at Bollinger. Nevertheless, although they may wear the name of long-established appellations on their labels, both are new interpretations, new examples of what can be achieved within the remit of these appellations.

Thierry Germain & Michel Chevré Saumur Bulles de Roches NV: I tasted this very recently at the Real Wine Fair, but it is immediately obvious that this wine is different to that shown there (the same was true of the Boisson Rouge, as it happens). The appearance does not have that same intense yellow-gold hue, but a more pure, polished appearance. There is a plentiful bead. The nose is fresh and firm, with bright stony fruit. It is polished, ripe, expressive, suggestive of substance but with a bright and defined frame. Bright and full, with a creamy top layer, and underneath a firm and steely seam of acid and crunchy minerality. It has a lemony bite, and a limestoney substance, but with a bare but adequate seam of ripe fruit all around it. It is long, grippy, pure, slightly austere and structured. Overall a very good wine. 16.5/20 (July 2012)

Château de l’Aulée Crémant de Loire Brut NV: Owner and winemaker Marielle Henrion worked at Bollinger for 15 years before buying this property in the Loire. This has a fine bead in the glass, and a pale lemon-gold hue. There are aromas of cashew nut, underpinned by a dried-fruit richness, which is also fresh, clean and open, yet it remains stylish and convincing. In the mouth it shows a lovely, poised mousse, giving the wine a gently creamy feel, reinforcing its fine-boned polished-fruit richness, which is also defined by an attractive and grippy edge. Some very stylish notes here, a broad feel, and overall a confident and supple wine. A long finish. Overall very impressive; surely the closest I’ve experienced to Bollinger elegance in the Loire. 16.5/20 (July 2012)

Filed under: Loire
Posted by Chris Kissack on July 13, 2012 at 3:43 pm
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