André Fouassier (Touraine)

André and Anabel Fouassier Lye, Touraine (Loire).
This is an estate you probably won't have heard about, and for my own wallet I would prefer that it doesn't come too much into the light: As soon as a good vintner begins to be known, his prices tend to soar... Back in 2005, B. and I had purchased a case of white Valencay from them, a blend of Chardonnay and Sauvignon. We happened to begin to drink these bottles last winter and in spite of the fact that I had bought wine from them on several occasions before that purchase, that was an awakening for both of us. Bottle after bottle, the wine was a pleasure, it was balanced, harmonious, with that savoury creamy side on the palate. So this spring, I dropped there again, bought a case of their white Valencay 2006 (priced a bit over 3 Euro) and bought a bottle of their red Valencay (same price), a blend of Pinot Noir-Gamay-Cot just for a try. Back in Paris, This single bottle of red Valencay was again a good surprise: the wine was fruity, delicate and has this thin tannic structure that you find in a well made Pinot Noir. And there was something authentic and, well yes... natural, in this wine. Thinking about this wine, I thought it was maybe unfiltered, but later learned from the owner André Fouassier that a long stay on the lees was probably why this mouth.A small vat room with 2 pressesDomaine André Fouassier makes wine on both Touraine and Valencay Appellations. The Valencay Appellation is one of the many Loire Appellations and it is located on the eastern wing of the Touraine region. On the map on this page you can see the Valencay area on the lower right of Touraine. Valencay got its official Appellation a couple of years ago, after years under the VDQS label. When I came for a visit, André Fouassier showed me around his facility, set in several different old houses like the one on the top, in a hamlet located a couple of kilometers from Lye, the nearest village.

André Fouassier (left) with his father André Fouassier has several generations of vignerons behind him but he followed a different professional orientation before deciding to become a vigneron himself in 1991. He first worked in the sales sector, then was hired in a regional agriculture administration body, then in a wheat company for 3 years. That's when he had the opportunity to buy his first vineyards: 3,18 hectares in Touraine Appellation nearby (a succession sale), he decided to jumpstart in this field, and little by little, he became passionate by the making of his wine, adding gradually more plots and surface when an opportunity showed up, to his 25-hectare total surface today, located on very different soils, in Chabris, Couffi and Lye. He had this great opportunity near Chabris, a 6-hectare vineyard, plus winery, and it pushed him in the right direction: this was a sandy/clayish soil, a very particular terroir, making supple wines, with little acidity, really nice wines, the former owner sold everything in bottles (rare). He first rented it all, then bought it.Another vat roomAs he was showing me room after room with all kind of vats and tanks (no casks in this estate), cement, resin, steel, I asked him about their use and how many vats he had. He has_and uses_ 70 vats in this location (Lye) and 19 in Chabris. All of them in non-air-conditioned buildings, and when he needs to cool some vats during the fermentation, he just hoses down the top of the vats to cool the outside. Asked about my surprise with his wine, he aswers that he lets the wine on their lees for quite a long time (some 2006 wines are still waiting the right moment), even tough that is considered dangerous: He checks them very often, tasting all these small vats where his wine is spread (not only tasting the wine, but the lees also, separately). To have a wine that lives and keeps moving (hopefully in the right direction), he puts very little SO2 during this vinification and vat-elevage. When the lees seem to sway in a wrong direction, he racks them. In the worst cases, when a vat is going south, he throws the wine away or sells it, but it is quite rare. By having so many small-size vats, he limits the risks inherent to this style of elevage on lees. And he makes the blend only after each these wines evolved on their own. Of course he doesn't use any industrial yeast, just the ones who come naturally with the grapes and the vat room atmosphere. The wine, he says, must be alive and allowed to have his life, the vintner being there to check and take precautionary measures when necessary. Tasting all these vats, he makes what he feels the right blend when time comes, and every year it is different. By blend, I mean not only the proportion of the variety, but which vat will go into the final blend. Speaking of this Sauvignon-Chard Valencay for example, it will be a blend of 20-23 vats, including nine 25-hectoliter vats like the ones on the left, each with a wine having a specific taste and history. This year, he may even add some Arbois (menu Pineau) in the blend. "Les Mandelles" Sauvignon plot, on TouraineWe drive a short distance to several of his vineyards, the first is "Les Mandelles", a block of Sauvignon on clay/silex soil, with woods in the distance and a miniature house (complete with a fireplace) where he stores tools. On the vineyard side, he lets the grass grow between the rows. He makes two light Roundup sprayings, one in late march, the other in mid-july, but the grass comes back naturally inbetween, with its positive interaction with the vines. That must be a light spray because when you look at this grass it doesn't seem to be bothered by the last one...
We drive to another vineyard, "Le Cep" (Sauvignon also). Not many grapes on the vines, just about 50 hectoliter/hectare probably this year, maybe less. The pruning, the fact these are old vines, and the grass is why. The next time (too rainy today), he wants to show me his Chabris vineyard.In the huge tuffeau cellars underneath the wineryHe shows me then a huge underground cellar made of 1 to 2 kilometers of galleries carved into the chalk, the tuffeau of which the houses and chateaus of the region are made. We use torch lights to scout the dark caves. He plans to bring electricity and transfer his chai and wine storage in there. Very impressive place. He shows me some charcoal, hand-written inscriptions dating back from 1789. In one room of the cave, there is even a block of tuffeau stone that had just been carved out of the wall, ready to be split in smaller pieces and taken out [picture on left]. For some reason, the quarry operation stopped (somewhere in mid-20th century) and the big stone was left laying for the eternity. In another place, you can see how the plants (and the vines certainly) take advantage of a clay vein in the stone to dig deeper for their nutrients [picture lower right].Absolutely amazing. Looking at these roots hanging in the dark after going through meters and meters of soil, you just think that it can't be indifferent for the plant (or vine) above. This is all about Terroir...
Back on the surface, we taste several vats:
__1 Sauvignon 2006. From one of these red metal vats. From a silex-soil vineyard. Clear in the glass. Very aromatic and richness in the mouth. Beautiful, I recognize this wine...He is a little annoyed because one day he thinks it could be considered too atypical by the Appellation tasters.
__2 Sauvignon 2006. Another vat and plot (clay soil). Samely a beautiful, generous mouth.
__3 Sauvignon 2006. Another vat. Very different nose: some truffles, chanterelle also maybe. Here, he says, he made a skin maceration as a try.
__4 Sauvignon 2006. Other vat with a shorter skin maceration.
__5 Sauvignon 2006.Other try with skin maceration. Little less truffle on the nose, more refined. Some passion fruit and mango side. Very onctuous, creamy mouth.
__6 Sauvignon 2006. A special terroir here: there was no skin maceration here but it tastes as if. This is because of the soil characteristics. Very onctuous.
__7 White Valencay 2006. To be precise, this is 80% of the final blend. He made a mini-blend in a bottle and we taste the bottle. There's about 8% of Chardonnay here. I love that, I recognize the white Valencay.
__8 Chardonnay 2006. The Chard that will be part of the Valencay blend. Very particular. Very complex and beautiful nose. He says that the Appellation controlers saw some oidium in his Chardonnay vineyard and said he shouldn't put it in the blend. That's ridiculous. A little oidium on a few vines doesn't make a bad wine. On the opposite, this wine has a very nice mouth and even with its 10% or 8% share in the blend, it will definitely have a positive role.
__9 Chardonnay 2006. A guess, he said first. This wine is different and smells dry fruits and raisins. It was at 15,8 potential. Nice sucrosity. The wine stopped and found his place. It will not be part of the Valencay blend though, and he may make a special cuvée of it.The workshop : dozens of tools used by his ancestors and himself
__10 Gamay. Resin vat. Fresh, morello cherry. Very nice already.
__11 Pinot Noir 2006. Lightly turbid. That's alive... He says that some object for the light oxydative side here, when there's nothing wrong to have a little oxydation in a wine. His father joins us and tastes the Pinot Noir himself (picture above), he also likes it. This vat of Pinot Noir will be part of the red Valencay blend.
__12 Cot 2006, from a cement vat. His Cot vines come from massal selections. This one will also be part of the red blend (Valencay). Very beautiful nose. Smells like clafoutis, this cake with morello cherries cooked inside. Many other aromas that I can't name. Another surprise here: The Cot is often too tannic and harsh, especially so young. He explains that he adapred the vinification to avoid this harsh side of the Cot and looked for the fruit. Non destemmed. For reds, it depends of the milesimes. What plays a role in his work is also that he works with presses (he has 5 presses) which are quite old (some would say obsolete) and he is obliged to press several times, carefully, because they are not as precise as the modern pneumatic ones, and the juice from each of these successive presses are often stored separately, the last press in a given batch being the most tannic, he thus can check different evolutions and add, or not add this or that wine.
The estate's wines are Valencay Rouge (red), Valencay Blanc (white), Valencay Rosé (pink), a Touraine Cot and a "Methode Traditionelle" sparkling, plus additional cuvées depending of the millesimes, made with wines that evolved in a special way (he has so many vats) and that he finds more interesting to be bottled alone. The price for his Valencay and Touraine wines is about 3,5 Euro and the sparkling costs 5 Euro.
This was a great visit... Domaine André FouassierLye 36600, Village de VauxPhone +33 2 54 40 16 13andrefouassier@yahoo.fr

Comments

[hikalu]

The wines sounds delicious. I think I like the wine like these.

[Jonathan Claxton]

Just returned from France with a bottle of your Valencay vieille vignes 06......... really fascinating wine, its nose of broom flowers and spice remind me of pinot gris or gerwurztraminer from Alsace a bit; it is a lovely nuanced wine in many ways. Thankyou. J.C. Scotland

[Didier Landowski 22 Bd des Emigres 56170 Quiberon]

Client de votre Valencay depuis quelques années ,via Leclerc,
je souhaierai un tarif pour 100 bouteilles rendues à Quiberon 56170.
Merci et bravo il est tres bien.