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Château du Hureau Update, 2011

In my Loire 2009 assessment published earlier this year only two Saumur estates were represented, Château de Targé and Philippe Vatan's Château du Hureau. Although two of Philippe's cuvées, Les Amandiers and Tuffe, showed very nicely, a welcome appearance by proprietor Philippe Vatan's top cuvée, Lisagathe, turned out to me a disappointment. Riddled with volatile aromas reminiscent of polystyrene cement it was clearly an off or misbehaving bottle, and I restrained from reporting on it.

Happily for me Philippe Vatan was reading (or at the very least he was directed to my comments) and thanks to Philippe I have now had the chance to retaste the 2009 Cuvée Lisagathe, as well as taking a first look at a number of Philippe's other wines, not only his other Saumur-Champigny cuvées from 2009 but also his white Saumur, as well as the recently introduced single-vintage sparkling rosé Rosanna. The latter of these wines I have already commented on in my Loire Fizz report, tasted alongside the likes of Huet, Philippe Foreau and Domaine des Baumard, and so here I give my report on the other cuvées. Kicking off with the white Saumur, this originates from four small plots of Chenin Blanc around Dampierre, tended organically (as is the entire domaine) and hand-harvested in several tries with a yield of about 30 hl/ha. If there is sufficient botrytised fruit there could also be a Coteaux de Saumur.

The range of reds, all Saumur-Champigny, begin with Tuffe, which in the 2009 vintage I tasted for my 2009 Loire report but I have not revisited it here. Instead, Philippe Vatan furnished me with bottles of his three grands crus as he calls them, Fours à Chaux, Les Fevettes and perhaps the best known of the trio Lisagathe. Starting with the first of this threesome, the vines for Fours à Chaux are located on a southeast-facing slope with soils of sandy clay over tuffeau, and are aged between 20 and 50 years. Their produce has been directed into a separate cuvée only since the 2006 vintage, so I suspect there are many fans of Saumur-Champigny who have yet to be acquainted with this wine. Les Fevettes should be a little more familiar, this cuvée having maintained its independent existence since the 1989 vintage. The vines here are older, having been planted in 1943. Lisagathe, meanwhile, has a long-standing reputation as Philippe Vatan's flagship cuvée and also comes from a distinct plot of mature vines.

These wines all show the silky-sweet fruit of the 2009 vintage, and I find each one enticing in its own way. Working at Château du Hureau, Philippe Vatan can be considered another good source of Saumur-Champigny, which I consider to be an increasingly fascinating appellation for red wines. Chinon may have the fame and the reputation for performing well in the cellar, established by names like Couly-Dutheil and Charles Joguet, the mantle today carried by Matthieu Baudry, Philippe Alliet and a handful of others, but nowhere else in the Loire offers the silky, Burgundian elegance that can be found in Saumur-Champigny. And although Clos Rougeard remains the benchmark within the appellation there are many - not just Vatan but Jean-Pierre Chevallier, Antoine Sanzay and others - who are raising their game and closing the gap. (8/9/11)

Château du Hureau, 2011 - Tasting Notes

The wines below were tasted in September 2011. All my notes on the wines of Château du Hureau, including those below, are collated under my Château du Hureau profile.
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Philippe Vatan's single Saumur Blanc cuvée.

Château du Hureau Saumur Blanc 2009: A pale straw hue in the glass. The nose is fairly reticent at first, and doesn't immediately seem to have the bite and grip that I recall finding in the 2008. But it just needs a little time to open up, slowly unfurling to reveal white stone fruit, with a gently sweet, ripe-apple feel to it. There's a little hint of green and leafy sage to it as well, becoming slowly more expressive with time in the glass. Rather detached at first, then in the midpalate showing good grip but never in a challenging style, it is more gently composed than that, fleshy and ever-so-slightly flattering to the palate. It is on the finish that it shows more vigour at present, a spicy and almost salty presence coming through here, and a finish that goes on and on. This is really good, but I feel it will be even better given another year or two. And maybe longer than that. 17/20

Philippe Vatan's three single-vineyard Saumur-Champigny cuvées from the 2009 vintage.

Château du Hureau Saumur-Champigny Fours à Chaux 2009: From vines between 20 and 50 years of age, planted on a terroir of sandy clay over tuffeau. This has been bottled as a separate cuvée by Philippe Vatan since 2006. This takes a good hour or so to open up even at this stage, and it develops a real richness in terms of its presence on the palate as it does so. Aromatically this is intensely perfumed, rich and smoky, full of the charcoal of barrel mixed with ripe plum and roasted herbs. Texturally, given a little time, this has a flattering and broad style on the palate, with grippy structure and a full, impressive, creamy fruit-skin character. Structured and yet seductive with its fleshy, praline-tinged weight, this is an impressive wine. This will be approachable before Les Fevettes and Lisagathe. 17-18/20

Château du Hureau Saumur-Champigny Les Fevettes 2009: From old vines, planted in 1943, and vinified as a separate cuvée since 1989. A rich and yet youthful colour in the glass. Wonderfully perfumed, with notes of cherry skin and dark plum, but with more aromatic notes too, of wild strawberry, with darker smoke and charcoal elements perhaps related to wood rather than fruit. Underpinning it all a firm, fresh, violet-tinged character and hints of hot stones. Good substance on the palate, with bright texture, with a firm seam of acid and ripe tannin in the background. The palate has that beautifully creamed, ripe-plum character that Saumur-Champigny can show, pure and lifted, and yet backed up by a fine tannic grip which really dominates the finish. This has fine potential. Delicious. 17.5-18.5/20

Château du Hureau Saumur-Champigny Lisagathe 2009: An intense hue here, a vibrant youthful pink-crimson tinge. The nose is very primary and fruit-laden, but these fruits are exotic and expressive, with wild plum, cherry skin and forest fruits, the fruit character all dark and yet perfumed and vivacious. Also there are hints of blackcurrants and kirsch liqueur too. The palate follows the style of the nose, being primary and yet full of potential. There is a very smoothly polished finesse to the substance of the wine, with a bright structure despite the darker fruit elements, which are all framed with firm acidity and ripe yet gentle tannins. These melt into the substance of the wine quite nicely, and in the finish they leave a long, ripe, structured feel. This doesn't have the bright purity of the other wines, seeming more reticent and substantial; it is a wine destined for the cellar, and has really good potential. 17.5-18.5/20