Vernou-sur-Brenne, Vouvray (Loire)
Peter Hahn is a vigneron in the Vouvray Appellation, he makes wine exclusively from Chenin grown on his 4-hectare estate surface outside Vernou-sur-Brenne, one of the villages in the Vouvray area (see linked map) which sits along the Brenne river (pictured on right). Peter is American,
born in New York and he spent his youth with his parents in Asia (Singapore,
Hong Kong, Taiwan) before later working in finance and doing trading in London and New York. But beyond the wine perspective, Peter went through a life-changing experience after moving into this beautiful domaine and mansion nestled in the middle of woods and vineyards, something that makes every city dweller including Parisians dream.
I heard about Peter Hahn when I made my story about Philippe Chigard who was doing draft-horse plowing on one of his parcels at the time, Peter Hahn farms his vineyard organically and he vinifies his wine naturally, making a single cuvée every year from all his parcels except for an occasional sparkling. Peter speaks French fluently and the whole interview was made in French.
The Vouvray Appellation area while not very large has a good share of good producers like Vincent Carême, Michel Autran, Jacky Blot, François Chidaine, Domaine Huet, and its sister Appellation Montlouis just on the opposite side of the Loire river has also a vibrant group of winemakers (some working on both regions) farming organic and eschewing any additives or correction during the vinification.
So to rewind from the start Peter was a trader in Sydney, Australia for 3 years, then he went back to the U.S. for his MBA in Darmouth near Boston, before working in London and Cambridge in business strategy and private equity. At that time he was already yearning for something less, feeling that this was not the life he really wanted, and he quit his well-paid job and settled in Paris,
following
his girlfriend of the time in the early 1990s. This was a time of questioning for him, he looked for values and meaning, trying his hand at writing scenarios or novels; of course he always loved wine since his Australian years, he went to tastings, visiting wineries here and there occasionally.
Then at one point along the years as he looked for a practical way to earn his living, he felt he could work in the wine sector, thinking at first he could maybe open a wine shop or export wine, before realizing that what he yearned for really was a return to a natural life, and that's when he began to explore the idea of finding available vineyards in France in the shape of a property complete with the house and vines. At that point, while working as a freelancer in business strategy, he began to look around for opportunities (around 1997-1998), visiting Bordeaux first where he quickly understood that region wasn't the good place for a return to a natural environment, then he went to the Languedoc which had many interesting sub regions, looking for a small domaine where he could do the farming by himself.
In Languedoc (this was in the late 1990s) he saw very interesting things with terroirs like Pic Saint Loup, met people, getting for example tips about the region from Thomas Duroux who at the time was a consulting enologist for Mondavi (which was famously trying to set up a winery near Aimé Guibert's Mas de Daumas Gassac).
Duroux who was already warming up for organic farming is now General Director at Chateau Palmer
which is wholly biodynamic since 2014. He still couldn't find what he looked for, either the available domaines were too big for an artisanal approach or too scattered with parcels far from each other.
The Loire was not yet on his radar but while still based in Paris and empty handed in his Languedoc searches he stumbled upon a property ad in a viticulture magazine, a domaine near Vouvray complete with a small surface of vineyards, woods and a mansion. Initially his aim was to make reds and that's why Languedoc was a good starting ground, and here there was only Chenin, but the other parameters were all there including this gorgeous mansion and environment, so he adapted and is now happy to make just whites. This was love at first sight and he bought the domaine in 2002. By an act of fate that turned out to be positive, the vineyards were at the time blocked for a long-term rent (fermage) to another grower and this left him the time until the end of the contract in 2007 to prepare and enroll at the viticulture school of Amboise, training with Vincent Carême and Damien Delecheneau, both being teachers at the wine school (Vincent teaching white vinification and Damien red vinification) all the while managing their own domaine biodynamically and vinifying naturally.
The previous owner, a widow, had rented the 4 hectares of vineyards to a grower who was farming conventionally, but in their early years these vines were farmed the old way with plowing and no chemicals beyond Bordeaux mix, and as soon as he got his hands on the vineyard Peter managed it organically. With the woods and the vineyards all nestled around the mansion this made a perfect place for his family and the natural life he yearned for. The fact that there were only 4 hectares
was great because he knew that more would have been difficult to farm by himself, especially organic. The nice thing, Juliette adds at one point, is that they can walk along their 4 parcels around the house in the morning and gauge the maturity without having to drive to vineyards 15 kilometers apart like it often happens when the surface is scattered over a region.
The first vintage was 2008, using only part of the fruit as Vincent Carème took half of the harvest, it was better to start with a smaller volume. Juliette remembers that they made 2364 bottles in this firts vintage, this was a great event for them.
On the two pictures above you can see the east-exposed parcel of Chenin (80 ares planted in 1956, surrounded by woods and hedges) which is now plowed with a draft horse year around.
Philippe Chigard (pictured on left on this very parcel) who manages the service came back 2 weeks ago to plow this parcel again and sow faassenii to improve the nitrogen in the soil. On the 2nd pic above Peter shows the debudding (ébourgeonnage) which was to be started the following day the a small team of seasonal workers, a very important stage for the future wine, it will concentrate all the energy in the grapes. This parcel here has a lot of flint stones (silex) and is partly in the shade in the late afternoon because of tall trees on the mansion side.
Video on right (this was a couple months ago) : the draft horses, led by the young trainees, have their shower under these trees near the mansion's water tower after a long day plowing the pârcel.
What was nice here also was that the property still had its own chai and cellar, if unused for years because the grower in charge of the vineyard had his own facility. Peter just had to renovate it a bit, fix the roof and having a cement ramp going down to the cellar instead of dirt
path that gets muddy in the rain season. This tiny facility is the perfect size for the
4-hectare surface and production, Peter says it cannot be more low-tech as it is, and he can literally walk to it as it is a stone throw from the mansion. The chai still had old winery tools sitting idly in a corner, like this old cellar pump pictured on right. Otherwise for his tanks and fermenters it was easy to find them around.
While in the wine school at Amboise, Peter discovered all the tricks used in a conventional vinification, as while his teachers Vincent and Damien didn't rely on them for their own wine, they were required to teach the whole curriculum to their students. As a consumer he didn't know about these additives used routinely in the chai, the lab yeast, the enzymes, cryo extraction, chaptalization, reacidification, wood chips, and he wonders jokingly how producers did before, say, 1950, before the invention of these additives. His aim was to make wine like people did before WW2, growing grapes, pressing them and waiting that the juice becomes wine by itself. He says the only technological concession beyond the tractor (and the Bordeaux mix) is the use of filtration before bottling, because he uses little sulfur.
When you walk inside the chai on the street level there's this beautiful hydraulic basket press dating from 1928 which he could renovate without much difficulty, this is a Mabille press, it was a very innovative press maker which was founded in 1935 and
closed down in 1994, the manufacture sitting in Amboise along the Loire river. Mabille built winery presses, cider presses and oddly also compact camping trailers (see this catalog). And if you leaf through their 1935 catalog you can see that this family company was really very inventive and productive, its engineers designing many different winery tools. For this press Peter just had to fix the wood on the basket side, paint the metal clean and with the help of Damien Delecheneau's father (who remembered how these hydraulic presses work from his youth when they were still widely in use) he could put it back to work swiftly, you just pump by hand with a multiplier effect on the pressing lid; these machines are almost unbreakable.... Until last year they pressed everything with this old press, but the volumes were so much bigger in 2018 and thus they bought a small pneumatic press with which they pressed half of the grape load. The old tool Peter holds on the picture was given to him by the father of François Pinon, it's the fork used in the early 20th century to do the rebêche, when you move the pomace in the press before pressing it again and get more juice.
Before harvest, Peter says he's not making lab analysis for the grapes, he just tastes them repeatedly, fellow vignerons also taste along, his idea is to work with nature and let the grapes mature when the weather and conditions allow, changing course is the weather becomes threatening and there's a risk of rot on the grapes, which is why certain vintages here yield a dry Chenin while others a sweet or semi-sweet Chenin. For the first 5 years that was not easy to get the customers get it, some would have liked the same wine as the previous year but 10 years on, the customer loyalty id building up, dry or sweet.
We then walked to the cellar using the cement ramp, it's a fairly large cellar actually in the shape of a long alley with barrels or pallets on bottles on the sides. This tiny facility was beautifully designed, with the ability to fill the barrels directly by gravity thanks to holes and pipes connecting
the chai level near the presses to the cellar level. The juice after pressing would have their gross
lees settle in low lying cement vats under the presses (like the one you can guess on the right
under another press Peter doesn't use) or in the cellar (pic on right, you can see the vertical pipe connecting to the chai above) and would thereafter flow by gravity into the barrels sitting in the cellar.
The cellar was probably in use not that long ago, possibly well into the late 1970s because the ceiling was obviously reinforced with cement arches, and Peter says the last wine made here before he made his own was 1996.
Speaking of the use of SO2 Peter says he put 40 total SO2 on the dry whites and a bit more like 60 on the sweet wines (moelleux), which is quite low that's why they make a filtration pauvre en germe, in other words a tight filtration taking out any potential yeast remaining in the wine.
Asked how they found their first customers, Peter says that the first vintage (2008) was released in 2010 after the élevage and filtration. They contacted Neal Rosenthal (Rosenthal Wine Merchant) who ended up
visiting the domaine and buying almost all their first vintage. Rosenthal remained a loyal importer,
here is a recent interview of Peter Hahn published recently by the company's website. Then later by word of mouth people dropped by and visited, and they now also export to the U.K. (Dynamic Vines),
You can see here the south-exposed parcel, also surrounded by trees, hedges and orchard. All this diversity is important also for the bees, as Peter and his wife keep 10 hives on the property, they use natural compost, using also the pomace after the press for the compost. They also have hens and use their droppings, Peter says it is in line with the the farm envisioned by Rudolf Steiner. This parcelle sud is under the sun the whole afternoon, Peter says it's always the first to get ripe. At one point we walk along the vegetable garden and we see the rural holiday accommodation (gîte rural in French) with swimming pool which they rent to visitors, many from abroad (pictured on right).
Then we cross a narrow paved road which virtually nobody uses (Peter says he loves that, and I understand him, you could sit down in the middle and have your picnic undisturbed) and on the other side Peter has more vines, beginning with this
parcel with 80 year old Chenin, then an empty
lot which they uprooted and are going to replant some day (there were too many missing vines). Beyond this bare lot in front of a hedge there's a tiny parcel which shows the stigma of herbicides, that's a parcel he'd like to buy from its owner but it's hard to convince a French farmer to let go a field, as tiny as it may be...
Walking around the mansion in a circle, we reach the other side of this small road, what they call the parcelle nord, there's here the soon-to-be-planted lot and a recently replanted parcel, with Chenin of course (and massal selection I presume) as well, they'll be the new blood of the estate, it's now two years old. As you may know, wild animals love these young plants especially when they're farmed organic, and Peter has put on each row a small plastic container with sheep fat (pic on right), that's something that is supposed to repel the roe deers (other growers use sheep fur, you can often see tufts of sheep fur hanging bizarrely at the end of the rows, the first time I saw them i thought it was black magic...). Speaking of these woods in the property they also pick mushrooms in there in the season, and chestnuts too.
And lastly, after having almost walked all around the mansion, we reach what they call the chai parcel, the one along the
alley going to the house and sitting along the chai. This is also an old parcel although they don't have the documents to date its planting precisely. Here also quite a few missing vines, the grower who was renting the vineyards for his fermage wasn't feeling like he had to fill the gaps. There are a few marcottages done by Peter here and there, he says it's a good way to replace missing vines in a old parcel because somehow the new vine is as old as its mother vine because of the sap connection. All these parcels are regularly plowed by a tractor for the weed control, except the first one where they use the draft horse.
Peter Hahn explains how the vinification starts : they pick the grapes by hand, from a very close distance to the chai as you could see, and the Chenin is pressed right away, the juice being left in a tank for about 24 hours to let the gross lees settle (débourbage) even though the juice is pretty clean. They dont use the old low-lying cement bins for this decanting for hygiene reasons.
Then they connect the débourbage tank to the cellar with a hose passing through the floor and they fill the barrels by gravity. there's classical music bathing the cellar on the barrels side, this is for harmony and several winemakers are doing this too. I've read classical music (at least Mozart's) has a positive effect on plants and I assume it may well work positively as well on the winemaking activity. They didn't use new barrels except for 2018 when they got this surge in volume, so for a change they bought a few new barrels from Atelier Centre France and they chose the CB range which
means chauffe blanche, no toasted oak here, the wood is just heated with steam which avoids the toasty aromas in the wine. They vinify the parcels separately and at the end, they blend, they just put apart the juice they'd consider fit for a méthode Champenoise, the rest being blended in a single cuvée. The last bottling was for the 2017, it was done in september 2018. The élevage is sur lies on its lees, usually Peter says he doesn't stir but it depends of the vintage, the 2018 for example is already rich enough, no real need of stirring.
__ We taste the Chenin 2018 from a barrel, considering they're all virtually the same wine but not all from the same parcels and with different pace from barrel to barrel. This barrel is from the East parcel, the picking was early in 2018. The wine here is almost finished, almost dry, good richness in the mouth, ripe with bitter notes, which Peter says are a constant here and are welcome.
At one point as were were visiting the cellar, Peter's daughter Célestine (who is fluent in both French and English) joined in and asked that we taste her barrel, this is a barrel she decorated with nice and colorful drawings (forgot to take a picture) and Peter helps her taste the evolution since the start. At one point she says it's normal for her to have made these paintings because she wants to be a painter in the future. That's a good omen for the wine part of the next generation also, and Peter & Juliette's son who is 16 if I'm right loves to drive the tractor, I've read somewhere.... Célestine pays attention, listens to the fermentation bubbling through the opening, this barrel will be blended with the rest but Peter floats the idea of making a micro-cuvée "Célestine" one day (i suggest already a few bottles apart starting this year)... Here there's more residual sugar, the bubbling is very active as the yeast activity is moving up with the spring temperature, there's more way to go until it gets dry, plus it comes from the South parcel which is riper
Then we taste from a new barrel made by Atelier Centre France (Chauffe Blanche), Peter says he smells the oak already, but I find it discreet, the light vanilla feel may also be an effect of the ripeness in 2018. Peter says that when they bottle, they first rack the wine with a pump to a tank upstairs and they put the empty barrels outside to clean them with just hot water, after which they burn a sulfur wick inside. And 2 or 2 weeks later when the new vintage's juice is ready, they clean the barrels again using cold water before rolling them back in the cellar and filling them by gravity.
Then Juliette joins us and we go outside in front of the chai to taste a few bottles. The setting is gorgeous indeed as a backdrop for our sips of Chenin...We'll taste a few wines because as said, the vintages yield different styles of wines, some bone dry, some with the richness brought by varying sweetness, and we'll start with a bubbly, the only separate cuvée from the cuvée domaine which they try to do when conditions are met.
__ Clos de la Meslerie 2012 Extra Brut [no dosage]. Simple, classy label, the wine is a méthode Champenoise or méthode [the Champagne lobby doesn't like
people to acknowledge that other regions can vinify the same was they do]. straight in the mouth, no fancy sugar feel linked to a dosage (they replace the disgorged lees with the same wine). Aromas on the citrus range, very neat feel. The 2nd mouth is less sharp than the first, with a softer touch in spite of the extra-brut soberness. Juliette says they might make a pet'nat one day instead of a méthode champenoise, she'd like to try it.
The disgorgement and corking is made by an outside company, this is better when you don't have the equipment and experience. While sipping the bubbly, Peter looks at the parcel nearby and sys he feels the weeds are growing under his nose, and although they pulled them out not long ago they'll have to do it again soon. He says usually Juliette is at the wheel on the tractor and he walks behing handling the blades, they have to do it several times in the season until the mid summer.
__ Clos de la Meslerie 2017, what we can call the cuvée domaine 2017, still wine of course, and made with Chenin. By the way there will also be a sparkling 2017, it should be ready by the end of 2018. Very nice dry Chenin, although Peter says there are a few grams of residual sugar (6 grams but I don"t really feel it), there's this light bitterness also which is welcome. The was was filtered. Peter says it's good to have these bottles age a bit when we can.
__ Clos de la Meslerie 2016. Same sober, classical label, Juliette says that while they
like the fancy labels you find now routinely in the artisan domaines, they wanted to retain something traditionnal because this wine can age and also to stay in line with
the history of this place.
There's obviously a bit more residual sugar here, and the wine is thus rounder. Peter says it's 25 grams, beyond what i'd have guessed, and that's why they only print in the back that it's a demi-sec : when you discover the wine it's not obvious in a blind sip, and considering the prejudice against demi-sec wines, that may be wise. The acidity and bitterness obliterate much of the sweetness here.
__ Clos de la Meslerie 2015, this was a hot-summer vintage like all over France, with a very nice late season too, this allowed them to let the grapes ripe on the vines, there was no rot, not even noble rot because the weather was so dry, so this yielded this sweet Chenin (65 grams residual sugar), a moelleux. Very nice fruity feel, Peter point rightly to this saline edge in the wine, which he finds every time he opens this vintage. Juliette says it pairs particularly on the cheese and spicy dishes, I find it very easy also like that by itself. A neat, mineral type of wine. Speaking of SO2 there is something like 60 mg SO2, Peter says he doesn't want to add more and the filtration is tight to add a level of security. Plus the shipping for export is always done in refrigerated trucks and containers. Peter and Juliette try to keep several vintages available so that buyers can have these different wines, the restaurants for example needing bhoth swett and dry wines to go with different dishes.
Speaking of American expats in France, Emily Dilling who after living 10 years in Paris setlled in the Loire valley is publishing a revised version of her book My Paris Market Cookbook with lots of info about natural wine and new details on how she discovered the winemakers of the Loir-et-Cher in the Loire. You can preorder her book with a rebate before its release june 25.
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