Damien Laureau, 2018 Update
Having recently mentioned Damien Laureau in my tasting report on the latest wines to come out of the cellars of Vincent and Emmanuel Ogereau, I thought I should crack on today with a report on a tasting of the latest releases from Damien.
Damien Laureau, to my mind and palate, is absolutely top tier in the Savennières appellation, along with the likes of Claude Papin (a new generation in charge, but the wines have always been tip-top), the new wave of wines coming from Eric Morgat (who has developed a new winemaking philosophy), Domaine aux Moines (where the new philosophy is coming from a new generation), Emmanuel Ogereau (another generational change) and Thibaud Boudignon (a young guy who started out from scratch). Never, to my mind, has the Savennières appellation been so exciting.
The Wines
Damien produces a small portfolio of wines of somewhat complex organisation, the various cuvées defined by site, terroir, vine age or selection in the cellar. The flagship cuvée is undoubtedly his Roche-aux-Moines cuvée, from just 25 ares (one-quarter of a hectare) of vines. This is a rarely encountered cuvée, while Les Genêts and Le Bel Ouvrage are less elusive. You might think these latter two are, like the Roche-aux-Moines cuvée, site-specific wines, but it is more truthful to say that they terroir-specific. The former comes from vines planted on sandy-silty soils, and this is intended for earlier drinking, whereas the latter comes from schist, and accordingly this is a much firmer, longer-lived wine. La Petite Roche is back to being site-specific, from young vines on sandy soils over schist near the river, while Les Petites Gorgées is essentially a selection made in the cellar, a blend of the first press juice with the initial free-run juice, and it is very much entry-level. The fermentations are all either in fibreglass or oak barrel.
