Domaine Ogereau, 2018 Update
Domaine Ogereau has its origins in the late-19th century, although it is only really during the latter half of the 20th century that it began to evolve into the domaine we know today. Francis Ogereau was responsible for shifting the focus of his domaine away from self-sustaining and market-stall polyculture and more towards viticulture as a specialty. It might sound as though we should credit Francis with the domaine’s highly regarded position today, but in truth I think Vincent Ogereau had a more significant role in this. It was Vincent who left for Bordeaux, to study viticulture. It was he who, working with the oenologist Didier Coutenceau, shifted the domaine’s focus from quantity to quality, with harder pruning, green harvesting and restricting the use of chemicals in the vines. And it was Vincent who realised, around the time he finally took over the running of the domaine from his father in 1990, that the maturity in the vineyard he was achieving should allow him to reduce manipulations in the cellar.
Today the next generation is now taking control here, and Emmanuel Ogereau (pictured above, with Vincent in the background) is building on the successes of his forebears. The domaine is now committed to organic viticulture (certification to come) and there are some exciting new cuvées added to the portfolio, such as the Savennières L’Enthousiasme, and let us not forget their newly acquired parcel in the Quarts de Chaume appellation. Most significant of all, to my mind, is a shift in the style of the dry white wines to earlier picking giving the wines a tension and purpose, unfettered by the smidgen percentage of botrytised fruit which dogs many wines – and I do mean dry wines – in the Anjou and Savennières appellations. This is the sort of winemaking panache we see from the likes of Damien Laureau, Eric Morgat or the Papin family. I remain nonplussed as to why the wines are not more highly sought after (and why most of them aren’t even imported into the UK).
The Wines
At this tasting Emmanuel Ogereau poured a selection of white, red and sweet wines, and I have left my notes in the order of tasting. I have chosen to do this because the order of dry whites illustrates another point which I like to return to now and again (and again, and again), which is this; Chenin Blanc from the sand and schist of Savennières is not inherently superior to Chenin Blanc from the schistose, carboniferous and spilite terroirs of the Anjou vineyard. For my palate, I think some place too much value on the Savennières appellation while inappropriately ignoring the Anjou appellation, where top sites can produce equally good or even superior wines. Reflecting this, Emmanuel’s tasting schema danced from one appellation to the next and back again, from a very competent 2016 Anjou En Chenin, over the river to an attractive 2016 Savennières Clos le Grand Beaupréau and then back to Anjou to find the equally joyful 2016 Anjou Vent de Spilite, before we finished north of the Loire once more with his top cuvée in Savennières, the 2016 L’Enthousiasme.
