Hervé Villemade (Loire)

Hervé Villemade in the VineyardCellettes (Cheverny, Sologne - Loire).
Sologne is a large wooded area south of Orleans, stretching between the rivers of the Loire and the Cher. The impermeable tertiary clays that characterize the soil of a large part of the area have largely prevented it from becoming a crop-growing region and explain the high number of ponds and lakes which give it this taste of wilderness and virgin forest. Sologne is foremost a hunting region with a very rich diversity of gamey, and this royal hunting groung is dotted with some of the most beautifull chateaus of France, like Chambord, Cheverny and Chenonceau.Hervé Villemade's Domaine du Moulin is located near one of them, Cheverny, on the same-name AOC Appellation.
Hervé Villemade makes red and white wines from a 17-hectare surface near Cellettes on the Western wing of Sologne, mostly on the Cheverny and Cour-Cheverny Appellations. The vineyards sit on a light slopes with a clayish/sandy/flint-stone soil where the water doesn't stagnate. Part of the area is the former bed of the Beuvron river which flows nearby.
Villemade is foremost known for his whites, the Cour-Cheverny (Romorantin grape variety) and the white Cheverny which is made of 60% to 85% Sauvignon, plus at least one of the complementary varieties : Chardonnay, Menu Pineau and Chenin. He also plans to plant both Sauvignon and Menu Pineau on Sigolelle, a full-East-exposition plot, and have them both grow and ripe together. About the red Cheverny varieties, he grows Gamay and Pinot Noir. he also has some Cot (Malbec) which he could blend into the red Cheverny, but he prefers to keep the Cot separate and bottle it as "Vin de pays du Loir-et-Cher". We walks through a 1977 massal selection of Pinot Noir (this is a very good terroir for Pinot Noir here), further another from 1980, others from 1980 and 1992. He also has massal grafts that he got from Prieuré Roch (this was before a new rule which forbids such inter-regional transfers).

Showing a Future Romorantin (Cour-Cheverny) Plot (2009)This is a family estate, Hervé Villemad began to replace his father on the property in 1995, his sister following suit in 1999. When he took the reins, the vineyards was conventionally farmed, that is with all the range of chemical sprayings and treatments. He had himself just graduated from the viticulture schools (Amboise in the Loire and Macon, Burgundy) and was candidly ready to begin making wine the way he had been taught in the school, that is with all the conventional sprayings in the vineyard, mechanical harvest and the usual interventions in the cellar. Even if back then he would put 3kg of concentrate in the sprayer tank instead of the 5kg recommended by the chemical company, this was still a heavy viticulture management. He worked 1, 2, 3 years this way and realized that the wines were not giving full satisfaction in spite of several consecutive optimal millesimes (1995, 1996 and 1997) and didn't sell well either in spite of moderate prices. In addition, he developped a skin allergy to sulphur. At about the same time, he met Thierry Puzelat (who was then in his second year of organic viticulture) and tasted his wines as well as Marcel Lapierre's Morgons and it was an awakening revelation, these wines had so much more to offer. He decided to turn 2 or 3 hectares organic just to check: no synthetic products, but plowing and hand harvest instead, and also no-or very-little sulphur. He was surprise by the rapid and obvious results in the wines, and the customers also immediately noticed the change and bought more wine.Vineyard Combat-Boots... This is in 1999, when his sister Isabelle considers joining him on the estate. He tells her about the changes he wants to implement on the whole property. Like him a few years earlier, she didn't know the organic/natural way but she understood the challenge and both of them decided to follow this route. Since 2000, all the vineyards of the estate are organicly farmed. It hasn't been easy to learn how to keep grass, plow and the rest, and his father was reluctant to let the grass grow, he felt like the vineyards were unkempt, but knowledge and experience came by itself. Another difficulty was that on 1999, 2001 and 2003, they lost altogether the equivalent of 1,2 normal harvest because of frost, hailstorm and heat wave. This Northern/Continental part of the Loire is subjected to potentially damaging frost occurences, usually between april 10th and 25th. Of course the yields went down after the change. With yields at 50-55 hectoliter/hectare before the change, he expected something like 40 ho/ha but the climate accidents gave him much lower yields : 28ho/ha in 1999, 20ho/ha in 2001 and a catastrophic 14ho/ha in 2003 (frost + heat wave). 2002 was a very nice millesime with yields at 32ho/ha. Recently mother nature calmed down and allowed him yields at 48ho/ha in 2004 and 42ho/ha in 2006, but 2007's Mildew forced them down tot 25ho/ha (because it rained so much for 10 days in june they couldn't use the tractor to do the contact spraying against the mildew.
The grape varieties at Domaine du Moulin are Sauvignon, Chardonnay (for the Cheverny white), and also Pinot Noir and Gamay (Cheverny red), plus Cot (Malbec) and Romorantin (the local white variety behind the Cour-Cheverny Appellation). He shows a bare plot bordering the woods where he will plant the famed Romorantin. Romorantin [see portrait near a Romorantin vine on the left] is grown exclusively in this part of the Loire and makes wines that are very different from the other whites found in the Loire with a very wide aromatic range and, like for Villemade's Cour-Cheverny, a light oxydative feel which makes a very strong-character wine. He says that in the past, Romorantin was planted in poor soils because of the rusticity. This grape variety is said to have been imported from Burgundy to the Loire by King François Ist in 1519. He had the vines planted in his mother's property in Romorantin (a village in Sologne) and the variety took its new name there. It is a late-maturity variety and its thin-skin grapes are fragile, with the rain often causing the mature grapes to burst. Because of this, he thinks that it is interesting to plant it on a "warmer" terroir like this bare plot which he considers perfect for a white variety with a mix of clay and sand. Romorantin doesn't give a lot of juice and with the short pruning on the cordon tresilling he has relatively low yields, 35 ho/ha being the maximum he gets usually.Hervé Villemade near his fermentation/elevage Wooden Vats (here a 51-hectoliter)On the vinification side, back then in the late 90s', he learned how to use minimal SO2 or no sulphur at all, how to keep the CO2 in the wine during winter (to protect the wine and thus skip the sulphur additions), many different things that were not taught at the winemaking school but were actually not so difficult to do. And these first batches were really convincing, with more taste and life in the wines.
So, how does he vinify the Romorantin for example? The grapes are pressed and stay put a dozen hours for a cold settling, then the fermentation starts in temperature-controlled vats. He likes to have a fermentation peak at about 1050, and he prefers to prevent the temperature from going over 20C. Then, when the wine goes back to a density of 1030, there is no temperature threat anymore, they rack the wine and put it into the casks where the wine will keep fermenting quietly well into winter, sometimes even in the following spring. The malolactic fermentations start thereafter, and they rack somewhere in spring, before the elevage in casks, which for the Romorantin lasts between 15 and 24 months. During all this vinification, the only SO2 for the Romorantin comes with a sulphur wick at the spring racking. Usually this is the only SO2 addition for these long-elevage Romorantin, and a check at bottling would show a free-sulphur level of zero, and a total-sulphur between 5 and 10 (read this page to understand the difference between free sulphur and total sulphur). Because they have a very long elevage, they work on the ability of the wine to get a bit of oxydation. Hervé Villemade likes to say that it is like children who need to be let out to play so that they are accustomed to the real world : this way, the wines don't suffer from oxydation and are less fragile. Protecting your children with antibiotics for the smallest ills is not the best upbringing you can think of. Same for the wine Remembering that natural wines need longer time to recover after bottling, I ask him about the recovery delay: he says that his Romorantin need another year. He recognizes that if he needs money he has sometimes to sell them before a year in the bottles, but right now he sells the 2005 which was bottled january 2007. Domaine du Moulin : the Cask CellarThe red grapes are harvested in boxes. The white "Cuvée Domaine" Cheverny is harvested with back-baskets then brought with grape-gondolas to the press. The whole-cluster grapes are poured into the vats, either the large-capacity wooden vats (made by Grenier) or the tall fiber-glass vats. In the fiber-glass vats, he sometimes puts first 60% of whole-cluster grapes and he completes the rest on top with destemmed grapes. The goal is to have the whole clusters at the bottom to allow a good drainage. It helps also for a quicker start of the fermentation (which is important for a sulphur-free vinification). Concerning the wooden vats, he puts whole-cluster grapes only because they are easy to climb on to have the cap punched with the feet. He says that the destemmer machine extracts astringency from the stems or from damaged grape-seeds which is not good for the wine.
Then 10 to 20 days of maceration depending of the grape variety, then pressing. Then the Cheverny "Cuvées Domaine" go back to the wooden vats for the elevage, while the red Cheverny Ardilles and the white Cheverny Bodice will have their elevage in demi-muids (big-capacity) casks or normal casks. He uses also his metal vats for the fermentation of the Cuvées Domaine, before the elvage in the wooden vats. His nice Pinot Noir from the Ardilles plot for example ferment and macerate in these same wooden vats before continuing in 1/2 muids (550-liter) and casks (220-liter). The more concentrated a wine is, the easier it will stand elevage in wood. He likes to use different casks, regarding the type of wood and the age of the cask.Tasting Romorantin From the CaskThe wines :
__ Domaine du Moulin Cour-Cheverny "les Acacias" 2007 (from the cask). These Romorantin resisted well to the mildew pressure, which was very high in 2007. Yields at 33/34 ho/ha on these plots. The maturity was not very high but the grapes were ripe, at about 11,6. This wine was racked not long ago. Lightly turbid. Freshness. Richness in the mouth. Because of the lower alcohol he will shorten the elevage for this millesime, ending probably next september. This way, he want to keep this freshness in the wine. He plans to name it "les Petits Acacias" because of this unsusual millesime, and price it 5,5 Euro without tax, instead of 7,5.
__ Domaine du Moulin Cheverny (white) La Bodice 2007. Very clear and bright. 70% Sauvignon and 30% Chardonnay. From a 500-liter demi-muid (named a "tonne" in the region. Very different nose indeed. Nice maturity. Very dry. Beautiful. Only got a sulphur wick at the spring racking. This wine should be bottled before the next harvest. Aromaticly, it will grow and open in the next months.
__Domaine du Moulin Cheverny (white) La Bodice 2007. Same wine but from a cask which hasn't been racked. On its alcoholic- & malolactic-fermentation lees. The malo-fermentations weren't finished a month ago but he thinks they are now. On the nose, more on fermentation lees and wood : the secondary aromas haven't surfaced yet. The former wine having been racked, the different casks and demi-muids have been blended before being redispatched to the different casks, this explains also a lot. Here, perly feel in the mouth. He says that there is a lot of CO2 in the wine as the malo-ferm just finished. At the end, this cask will be blended with the other one that we tasted before.
__Domaine du Moulin Cheverny 2007, Cuvée Domaine (bottle). Vineyard on the lower part of the property. 70% Sauvignon 30% Chardonnay. Bottled in mid februray (He still keeps some of ths wine in casks). 6 Euro at the estate. Nice wine.
__Domaine du Moulin Cheverny 2006, Cuvée La Bodice. Bottled last december 2007. Sauvignon/Chardonnay, same proportion, from the Bodice vineyard uphill near the woods (near where he will plant some Romorantin). Costs 8 Euro at the estate. Very different wine, from a very different soil/terroir. 14,2° maturity. 2006 was very sunny. Very round and gourmand. you really don't feel the alcohol. Nose : ripeness, pear skin. The light oxydation brought by the elevage is important too. He says that it will be perfect next autumn. A real pleasure in the mouth too. On the Cheverny we tasted before, the Sauvignon was more prominent, with vegetal notes typical of small millesimes. Here with the higher maturity, the aromas are more on white fruits. he says the la Bodice 2007 will be inbetween, with citrus, rose-grapefruit aromas.
__ Domaine du Moulin Cour-Cheverny "Les Acacias" 2005. Romorantin grape variety. Honey on the nose, hazelnut. Rhubarb aromas, he says. B. and I actually drank a bottled of this wine after this visit. I had bought the bottle at Caves Augé before the visit but we didn't find the time to drink it. When at last we could, it was a real pleasure. This wine opens a wide range of successive aromas while you chat and the second glass brings more surprises, same additional surprise and jubilation at the 3rd pouring. Outstanding wine, really [about the glass, I actually only fill maybe one fith of the glass each time, for both a better aeration and to keep the rest of the bottle in the fridge]. It costs 13 Euro at the estate. B. shares my enthusiasm for this Cour-Cheverny, this is an exceptionnal wine. Very long in the mouth. Still lots of freshness. This bottle can stand 15 or 20 years, he says. Romorantin is known for being able to have both a high maturity and a high acidity (like Chenin, Semillon). 13,5° on the label, actually 14°. No industrial yeasts used in this estate, these aromas come from the grapes only. Pairs well with spicy dishes, he says. He tried it once (a Cour-Cheverny 2002) with a Morrocan Tajin, it was a perfect match. Some of the other Cour-Cheverny producers keep the high acidity by adding SO2 to prevent the malolactic fermentation from starting. But the gustative qualities of these wine suffer from this manipulation. Some even choose to block the alcoholic fermentation (like for the 2007 millesime which was a high-acidity, low-maturity millesime) before the end to keep 5g of sugar and create artificially some tenderness in the wine. But the resulting wine is completely distorted and strange.
__Domaine du Moulin red Cheverny Cuvée domaine 2007 (bottle). 50% Pinot Noir 50% Gamay, the lower part of the vineyards, near the winery. Elevage in the big tronconic vats. Relatively clear color. Hervé villemade says that for him the color is not very important. Some wines can be very clear bust still very concentrated. No filtration here. Sometimes if the last 200 liters in the bottom of the wooden vat are really turbid, he may opt for a light filtration, but only for this remainder. And it is very rare. Even for the "Vin Primeur", he filtered only the last third of the vat. Raspberry, cherry with kirsh notes. The Gamay is more prominent here, there may be more 60% of it in the blend.
__Domaine du Moulin, Cheverny Les Ardilles (red) 2007. From one of the tronconic wooden vats ( picture on right, the one on the right, #26, 51-hectoliter). 80% Pinot Noir 20% Gamay. It was in the 1/2 muids casks before and he pumped it back there for a lighter wood imprint. Refined. Darker red. Lightly perly, very good for the protection of the wine because it never had any SO2 and the natural CO2 does the job. Usually it is bottled in september but for this lighter millesime it may be next june. Speaking of next june, he will bring all his wines at the Caves-Augé tasting next june (check at the wine shop for the day).
__Domaine du Moulin red Cheverny "Les Ardilles" 2006 (bottle). Same Pinot-Noir/Gamay blend. Nice depth in the mouth. Nose is more on the spicy side, like saffron, caraway. 13,2°.
As you can see on the pictures, Hervé Villemade is beginning to make natural sparkling wines and they will be available later this year.
Hervé Villemade's wines are imported in Japan (by Racines), Russia and the US (Savio Soares Selections, NY). For Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and France, see the retailers here.
Hervé Villemade and his wife have three children.The Home of the Domaine du Moulin's Hunting DogDomaine du MoulinHervé Villemade41120 Cellettesphone : +33 (0)2 54 70 41 76email : herve.villemade@wanadoo.fr

Comments

[Michael Green]

That looks like a beautiful vineyard. You know one thing which constantly surprises me about wine is that the cost of a bottle has almost no relationship to the quality of the wine. Yes I know it shouldn't surprise me, but your reporting of Sologne just reminded me of this age old truth.

Michael.
http://ukWineDirect.com

[Wine Bloke]

Really is a lovely looking vineyard. I just found this blog and have been enjoying it for a good hours or so (with a bottle of course). Thanks for this.

[LaurentVinature]

Hi,

Excellent review (as usual) of one of my favourite vineyards in Loire!

cheers

Laurent

[Felipe Mendez]

Few days ago I had an Ardilles 06 from this producer. And one could tell from your report that the wine was going to be as good as it actually was.
Thaks for enlightning us.

Felipe Mendez