Thésée, Touraine (Loire)
I just had to cross the Cher river on the cute narrow bridge (pic on left) from Pouillé to Thésée on the northern bank (the two villages are very close, see map route) and here I was at another grape harvest, this time for a parcel of Romorantin belonging to Bruno Allion (Domaine de Pontcher), whom I visited a couple years ago. Bruno is also a very nice person to work with, very kind and not taking himself seriously in spite of the quality of his work and of
his wines. The domaine is also farmed biodynamicly and the wines made without additives nor intervention, the group's sessions for the biodynamic farming often taking place on Bruno's grounds, in particular for example with the process related with the horns like the prep 500 (horse-manure stuffed horns being subsequently put underground for several months). Biodynamy is "organic" brought to an upper level, you feel it in the vineyard through the health of the vines but also in the wines which have definitely a vibrant energy of their own. In terms of spraying this year, Bruno says he made only 5 sprays altogether so far on his vineyards, for a total of 1,5 kg copper [per hectare I guess], which is virtually nothing.
Some of the same pickers I saw working at Les Maisons Brûlées (here Michel for example) were also taking part to this grape harvest : Artisan growers often have a small surface and they try to help the team of pickers have a full work week, directing them toward a colleague when there's an interruption in the picking because the next parcel is not ripe. It was also a pivotal harvest for Bruno Allion (pictured on right on his tractor), who is retiring next year, part of the vineyard being taken over by Anouk (pictured here above & on left in her vintage Russian-made 4X4 Niva) and her husband Paul-André.
Anouk Lavoie-Lamoureux is from Quebec and she & her husband (Paul-André Risse is a French national who spent years working in research at McGill) were looking for a domaine to take over in the area. Bruno's retirement gave them the opportunity to start working with vineyards that have been farmed biodynamic for years. His surface will be split in two, another grower will take the other half. They began to work with Bruno Allion last winter for the pruning, learning his ways all the while. They are going to rent the chai/cellar to Bruno and they will find later a building of their own in the area, which shouldn't be too difficult, given there are plenty of affordable real estate for sale. Anouk & Paul-André have already deep roots in the biodynamic farming and a shared interest into real wine, you'll certainly learn more about them later on Wineterroirs (until then, check their website).
The parcel (which is 4 years old) has not suffered much from the frost this year. Bruno says that last year he made just one barel and 50 liters of wine with this parcel of Romorantin, the losses were quite disastrous. He is confident there'll be (much) more wine this year (2017), he'll make a direct press for a cuvée of sparkling.
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