Pierre Jacques Druet, 2010 Update
I continue my thankfully short programme of rescuing notes from the brink of irrelevance with this review of wines made by leading Bourgueil vigneron Pierre Jacques Druet. All the wines cited here were tasted on my visit to the Salon des Vins de Loire in February 2010.
Druet is one of Bourgueil’s leading winemakers, who I last visited in 2008. With my children in tow it turned out to be an eventful day. I have already given some account of my care in not driving over the top of his perhaps rather arthritic dog (since deceased, I am told, after it fell down the stairs). Druet was the epitome of tolerance with my children, setting out sheets of cardboard and chalks for them to entertain themselves, while we tasted to the tune of a discourse on guillage, the nobility of tannins and salt (see my Druet profile for more on this). My daughter decided to repay his kindness with a bout of explosive vomiting midway through our visit. We beat a hasty retreat, having tasted many of the wines, but without having seen his more atmospheric caves.
Happily this tasting was not so eventful. I worked my way through the wines with Pierre’s son, starting with two brut de cuve samples of Les Cent Boisselées from the 2009 and 2008 vintages and the 2008 rosé, before then moving onto the more mature wines, cuvée by cuvée. Further vintages of Les Cent Boisselées came first, starting with a 2007 which was a decent (but intrinsically still rather lacklustre) effort for the vintage; comparing with my notes from my aforementioned visit to the domaine, when this wine seemed to show more fruit and substance, it now appears to display the weakness of the vintage more plainly. There followed a 2005 which was really quite admirable, showing the strength of this particular year, strength also seen in Druet’s Grand Mont and Vaumoreau cuvées. These were also shown in the 2005 vintage, and both were very attractive, especially the dark, brooding and yet floral Vaumoreau. The corresponding 2000 was punching above its weight, this vintage not being as successful for the red wines of the Loire as you might think, but the 1989 was really on form. And yet, as evolved and secondary as it was, this was still dominated by a mass of embryonic tannin just crying out for more time in the cellar.
