
Our visit at Jacky Preys winery was improvised . I suddenly thought about visiting but was not sure it was a good idea as I did'nt know him , and I hate being the city dweller dropping in the middle of intense harvest hours .
But we did it and we don't regret, as he and his wife welcomed us very simply and warmly . After we ringed the bell outside , Janick Preys opened the door and I explained about our interest for the harvest in the vineyards , and maybe , if possible , our wish to have a furtive look on the other activities , arrival of the grapes , pressing , fermentation vats , and how practically supervision is done on all of this...

She called her husband Jacky Preys and I apologised for such an untimely visit . He warmly denied this was a disturbance and invited to look around with him after a look in the vineyard first .
Let's first present the Domaine :
"Domaine Jacky Preys et Fils" is located in Meusnes (map) , 220 km south of Paris , and is maybe the most renowned Domaine in the Valencay appellation . Meusnes is the village at the heart of the Valencay Appellation zone. He presently works on 70 hectares scattered around Meusnes , and also some plots in Mareuil sur Cher . 20 years ago as the Valencay wine was not well known , he drove himself to Paris regularly to present his wines . His wine is now exported , as far as Japan , where he has now a solid customer base and enjoyed a hearty welcome there when he visited the country with his wife .
His wife then drove us in her car to the nearby vineyard where a harvesting machine was working . At a short distance , their son Pascal was driving a big yellow Gregoire harvesting machine working on Pinot Noir grape variety ranks . One of their dogs was looking on , stinky with grape juice and lying in the sun when tired of running around .
Back in the winery , J. Preys offered an unusual tasting experience : Tasting consecutively different evolutions between the grape juice to the "Bernache" , this lovely sweet-but-already-alcoholic beverage that you can drink in the wineries at this time of the year .

He first showed us around . A massive concrete underground facility allows working with gravity when the grapes arrive . Come the juice and the grapes . The grapes are destemmed so that nothing outside the grapes (even leaves) are taken in . As we saw when we tasted different vats , the juice evolves very differently , depending of the work of the natural yeast in the must . Some are still grape juice when in the next vat , from same day harvest and same grape variety ,it has already turned into the sweet alcoholic "bernache" ...

We both climbed to look at the surface of a fermentation vat . Very impressing . It's moving , foaming , bubbling . Seems sometimes a CO2 column is piercing the foam and turns in the vat like a cyclone whirl . We carefully go down and begin to sample the musts.
__1st : Sauvignon juice . colour : ananas juice , or Pastis . Very sweet .
__2nd : Same with 8 days fermentation . Already at half of its final alcohol level : 5-6° .Somehow less pleasant , this is not juice nor bernache anymore , and not wine yet ...
__3rd :Less advanced although harvested same day as the former .
__4th : "Fié Gris" white grape variety , from old vines . Rare grape variety nowadays . Only at J. Preys , in the area . Fermentation not started yet . Subtle must .

Reds now :
__5th : Gamay , for Touraine Primeur .Harvested 10 days ago . Tickles a bit, but fruity . This is bernache !
__6th : Pinot Noir , harvested this morning . Already bernache . You could drink that like milk , it's so good and so sweet and fruity , and you don't really feel the alcohol, except after a few glasses, you feel_let's say_ well .
two pumping-over are made for each red vat at this stage every day . Fermentation is stabilized at 25 ° C .
Other reds like Cot (Malbec) will be harvested in 4-5 days . This year the harvest order is different . Instead of beginning with the whites , faster maturation of red grapes this year has pushed for harvesting the reds first .

He invited to taste also some of his wines , and we tasted :
__1st : Touraine Cot (Malbec) 2000 Cuvée Prestige . Superb . Surprise is that it is not as astringent as the Cot usually is . Destemming is why . Very tannic wine . I will buy 6 of it . 3,40 Euro a bottle .
__2nd : Touraine Cot 2000 Cuvée Princiere .
__3 : Sauvignon gris 2002 "cuvée de Fié Gris" , a rare grape variety . Old vines (more than 110 year old) . Small yields . 30-32 ho/hectare . Concentrated . Substance . Richness . Aroma : Lichees . Very good with asparagus , says B. , also fish . He has a wide range of wines , with different mono-varieties , reds & whites, with of course the Valencay blends , and the sparkling or "Methode Champenoise" . I think we'll come back to taste more of them .
Wow, you visited to Jacky preys winary. I love his pino noir. I sometimes buy it from my favorite wine shop in Yokohama, Japan. The shop name is SHINKAWA and The owner, Mr Takenouchi always imports nice wines from France. He treats some wine that you've wrote on this Blog. Anyway, This wine makes me comfortable. It's not spectacular, but It's REALLY good. I like the wine like that as a daily wine. It wasn't so expensive for me.
Posted by: Hikalu | October 03, 2004 at 05:10 PM
Hi Bertrand,
just ran into Jacky unloading his truck boulevard Port Royal chez La Petite Cave. He invited us to his latest discovery - seulement un fou comme moi peut faire ça - of chardonnay "bourru" - just fermented grapes, not yet wine. It looks like an impenetrable maze of grapejuice with enough alcohol to still the world. Jacky is producing some of the best experiments in wine and he is rewarded by the AOC label for Valençay, white or red.
Jacky left this morning in his truck at 2am from Valençay, dropping off boxes of wine on the road, explaining his unpolitical politics of wine making.
I told him all about your excellent photographs and he was pleased. Specially about the post from Yokohama!
cheers
einar
Posted by: Einar Moos | October 29, 2004 at 10:18 PM
hello and nice to meet you, einar.
I've found your message now. I just wanna say, I'm very happy to know that Jacky was pleased the post of mine. I like this Blog and the photographs. I'm looking forward to the update here. I sometimes feel that it would be nice if I could go to France when I see those photographs. I'm relieved that this Blog is writen in English at least. I should learn more English and French to understand more deep. einar, enjoy the wine~
Posted by: hikalu | November 01, 2004 at 01:49 PM