Domaine Ogereau, 2016 Update
Over the past seven or eight years I think I have come to know Domaine Ogereau as well as any other domaine in Anjou. I knew the wines from long ago, especially the superb sweet wines from the Bonnes Blanches vineyard, but in recent times first tasting the wines with Vincent, and in more contemporaneous encounters with his son Emmanuel, I have become even more familiar with this domaine. My experience with their wines includes not only the most recent releases but, thanks to Vincent Ogereau’s generosity, also occasional tastes of wines from their personal stock as they mature. Nothing convinces regarding the ability of Anjou-Villages, Savennières or Coteaux du Layon to age and evolve in an interesting manner than tasting such wines at fifteen or twenty years of age, sometimes even more.
It is also a domaine I have called in on, notable as I have perhaps visited a broader spread of domaines in Touraine and maybe also Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé than I have in Anjou. When I last called in on the Ogereau family, back in 2014, it was not Vincent who pulled the corks but Emmanuel (pictured), and he did the same for this most recent tasting, proof if any were needed that the next generation is now firmly bedded in and holding the reins here (that might be an over-mixing of metaphors, but you get the idea). And it seemed clear to me that Emmanuel has brought energy and a sense of innovation to the domaine, just what we should expect from a newly arrived generation. Indeed, this was a fascinating tasting, filled with new vintages of old classics such as the Côte de la Houssaye, but also bursting at the seams with new cuvées. Three in fact, four if we include the Vent de Spilite, only in its second vintage. That’s impressive work for someone who might otherwise be regarded as still needing to ‘find his feet’.
A New Generation
Emmanuel and Vincent Ogereau have 23 hectares of vines, and in recent years they have been working to improve the conditions in the vineyard. Emmanuel tells me they stopped using herbicides in 2010, and that they have more grass planted now. They also plough the soils more, controlling weeds this way rather than by chemical methods. The change in their approach to managing the soil has, says Emmanuel, resulted in improved fruit characteristics. The work in the winery has also evolved. Today Emmanuel leans towards ‘infusion’ of the solids rather than active extraction; he no longer pumps over in the vats, and he feels this approach yields less imposing tannins. “This is closer to the grapes”, he says, by way of explanation.
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