Domaine des Baumard, 2011 Update
Following on from the update to my profile of Domaine des Baumard, long overdue I think, it seems only appropriate that I write up my most recent tasting notes for the wines of this domaine. These notes come from a number of sources, principally a visit to the domaine in July 2010 and a meeting with Florent Baumard in Angers in January 2011, together with a handful of notes on wines tasted at home.
I present my notes below, but first a few snippets of information I picked up during my meeting with Florent (pictured below), with particular relevance to the sparkling cuvées, Verdelho and the cryo-extracted Quarts de Chaume. I have already integrated these thoughts and opinions into my Baumard profile published yesterday, so those who have read that with due diligence might want to skip to the tasting notes below.
When visiting at the domaine we kicked off with three examples of non-vintage Crémant de Loire. Two of these wines I was very familiar with, the Carte Turquoise (mainly Chenin Blanc) and Carte Corail (a rosé featuring mainly Cabernet Franc, sometimes with a little Grolleau or Chenin) being Baumard stalwarts, but the Brut de Rosé, with its distinctive presentation (clear if lightly frosted glass and silver labels) was a wine new to me. I asked Florent how the two rosé cuvées differed; clearly the assemblage is one distinguishing feature, but there are other points of difference, In particular the Brut de Rosé is made using only the cuvée, the finer portion of the juice obtained (generally the first 80%) from the harvested fruit, whereas the Carte Corail also takes the taille (the subsequent 20%, which generally contains more pigment and tannins and is usually regarded as being of lesser quality). Whatever the differences between the wines, the dosage takes all three to 6 g/l, as Florent says this allows better expression of the fruit.
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