Henri Bourgeois, 2019 Update
Ever since my early adventures discovering the wines of the Loire Valley (let’s not get into a debate about how long ago that might have been, and no jokes about how pre-phylloxera wines stored in amphorae might have tasted, thank you) I have been a fan of the wines of Henri Bourgeois. This expansive domaine and négociant remains a very significant player in the region, in terms of quality, range, diversity and volume. To reflect the fact that this business now involves several lineages and generations of the Bourgeois family, a number of cuvées are now being released under the Famille Bourgeois label.
In this most recent review of the wines of Famille Bourgeois with Arnaud Bourgeois (pictured) I tasted across the range, taking in some entry-level wines, well-known classics such as Jadis, Sancerre d’Antan and Etienne Henri, often in an older vintage alongside the current release, as well as several of the new single-vineyard cuvées, including Le Cotelin and Les Côtes aux Valets. I thought for a change, instead of tasting through the portfolio in the usual fashion, I should start with the white cuvées from limestone, and finish with those from flint (before moving onto the handful of reds). Identifying the terroir of origin for a single wine tasted blind is a minefield in Sancerre, but identifying traits within groups of wines, in this fashion, can be informative. The limestone cuvées, mostly from Kimmeridgian soils around Chavignol, show more finesse than the flint cuvées, which are mostly from the slopes of Saint-Satur and tend to display more substance and breadth.
The Wines
Starting with the limestone cuvées, for me Jadis led the way here, with a slightly older vintage 2012 showing superbly, laden with maturing truffle and almond notes. This was by no means a wine at its apogee though, as I suspect this vintage has plenty more to offer us yet. The 2015 vintage of the same cuvée also showed very well, and together these two wines would be my first port of call from among the limestone half of the portfolio. Also showing very well was the 2016 Le Cotelin, in just the second vintage of this single-vineyard cuvée, and to my surprise the 2012 Pouilly-Fumé La Demoiselle de Bourgeois was also top-notch, showing freshness and evolution combined. While I have long admired the Henri Bourgeois portfolio in Sancerre, I have been guilty of overlooking their Pouilly-Fumé in the past. Perhaps this is a mistake?
