Château Pierre-Bise: Vineyards
My first ever visit to meet Claude Papin opened my eyes to the Papin philosophy as it applied to terroir and the vine. He soon escorted me into the family kitchen where, seated at his dinner table and armed with pen and his pad of headed notepaper, Claude began my introduction to his philosophy of wine, one which I have continued to explore during the years that have since elapsed. Claude, a former head of the Loire office of the Centre Technique Interprofessionnel de la Vigne et du Vin, worked hard to ensure that his wines are what he calls vins de terroir rather than vins de variété; that is to say they express some aspect of their origin rather than simple, grape-derived characteristics alone.
Claude was committed to the concept of terroir as it is expressed in wine, and significant influences on his way of working include Christian Asselin and René Morlat of the laboratory at the L’Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) just outside Angers. Christian Asselin was perhaps best known as the editor of Le Guide Hachette, although he had a more technical role here, while René Morlat was a significant figure in the world of Loire viticulture. His name has cropped up in several other Loire profiles, advising on planting and viticulture at Domaine de la Noblaie and Charles Joguet, for example.
A major focus of the work carried out by Asselin and Morlat was terroir, and one of their most notable experiments was conducted on several parcels planted with Cabernet Franc. All the parcels were planted at the same density, subjected to the same viticultural process, picked at the same time, and the vinifications were also the same. The wines that resulted were always different, and what is more the same parcels tended to yield wines with similar characteristics (assessed on blind tasting year after year). They postulated that the differences were down to soil temperature, some soils warming up more quickly, and staying warmer during the summer, giving these vines an advantage.
