Couffi, Cher valley (Loire)
I hadn't visited Christophe Foucher of La Lunotte since we spent time together a couple months ago in Oakland for Brumaire, the year natural wine fair in the Bay Area, and this was a lot of fun. His wine farm is not far from where i stay when I come on weekends,
and I stumble on him very often
at the saturday morning market in Saint Aignan, a small market with meat, charcuterie, vegetables, cheese and fish which a few other vignerons of the area attend (also a good time of the week to sit in a café and watch people walking by).
I remember Christophe told me to drop by a couple weeks before to taste a few wines and that what i ended up doing. When I arrived at his place he wasn't there; his son Victor whom I met for the first time told me he'd be there soon and I told him it was no problem, I'd sit outside near the family cat and wait for him. I love his place, it's like his wines, real and without makeup, with a large tree to sit in the shade when it's hot. Christophe soon arrived at the wheel of his tractor, straight from his vineyard where he had been cutting the weeds.
His tractor is a Massey Ferguson 152 V, looks simple and efficient, I asked if his son was doing some work on the vineyard or in the cellar, he said no, it was not his thing at the moment, although he helped occasionally for the bottling or if i remember for the harvest. There was also a Japanese trainee with Christophe, Sachiko
(pictured further below) who is from Tokyo, she also trained with a few other vignerons in France,
including Jura and Ardèche. Christophe says it's particularly difficult for her in the vineyard because several tasks need a lot of physical force, lioke planting new posts.
As we were chatting near the tractor and I was asking what he had been doing in the vineyard, he told me he cut the weeds with a cutting blade on a tool he designed customized himself, using several parts from existing plows. He had thought about having a blade on the side of the tractor which he'd be able to move at will with a retracting arm when passing near a vine. as he explained there are such tools you fix behind the tractor but it's very uneasy to keep an eye on the blade all the while driving the tractor straight, and when on the side it's much more convenient in this regard. What you see here is a unique custom tool designed and made and welded by Christophe himself. I suggest you pay him some royalties if you get inspired to do the same tool, as I'm not sure he'll patent and register this tool (although I suggested it) ;-)
So here is how it works : The tool is designed to get rid of the grass and weeds under the row. When the blade is positioned at the right height in the vineyard, he holds the wheel with the left hand and pushes the blade to the right with the handle, pulling it back each time he passes a vine to avoid hurting the rootstocks; the blade cuts the weeds at the root level just under the surface, they'll thereafter dry on the ground.
We then walked into the old side building that serves as surface cellar, a building that was probably built around 1900, with the local sandstone (tuffeau). The walls being 40-centimeter thick,there's a good inertia from the outside temperature and it keeps relatively cool in summer. Christophe grabbed glasses,
heading first to a tall fiber vat (behind him on the picture). The wine in the vat looks red on the picture but it's not, it's Sauvignon.
__ Sauvignon 2017 (the future cuvée Rossignoux), the wine has been racked in there a few months ago, it was in barrels before. The vats are standing high above the floor level so that he can bottle by gravity (he already bottled half of this cuvée). tHe wine is very clear, it had time to sediment. Nose not typical of Sauvignon. Very smooth and onctuous, feels whole. Christophe asks if I need a bucket to spit but I mostly don't spit, I'll be careful on my way back, I'm not going far and breath checks are unlikely. He asks that because he doesn't favor pouring the unfinished glasses on the dirt floor in the cellar, he knows many vignerons do that but he thinks (and I agree) that this may cause trouble to have even small amounts of wine dropped and spoiling on the ground, possibly later contaminating the wine sitting in barrels.
then we walked to the next cellar room, or rather crawled to it, as we pass through a 80-centimeter high door frame. Sachiko tastes also, that must be very interesting for her, all this experience in the vineyard as well as the cellar, so different from what she comes from...
__ Sauvignon 2018, from a barrel (large capacity, 500-liter demi muid). This is one of the parcels making up Les Rossignoux. Massal selections of Sauvignon, vines aged 35-40. Nose : a bit of torrefaction. Nice richness on the tongue, may remain a bit of sugar. But still very sharp in the mouth, no over-richness. Christophe
thinks the alcohol may be higher in 2018, like 13,5 or 14 % and because of this he may blend part of the Sauvignon with Menu Pineau, that a type of blend he likes to make on certain years with a cuvée named Trio. In General the Menu Pineau is lighter even when ripe, and he says that this variety is late ripening, it's one of the latest to be picked, sometimes after the Cabernet. And oddly on the other hand, that is a very early variety for the buds and foliage growth, it has spread out growing cycle. And even well ripe, it stays at 12 or 12,5 % alcohol which is interesting. And anyway, he drinks regularly his wines from the previous year that were also relatively high in alcohol and they're easy drinking nonetheless. And the wines reflect the fact that they had nothing added and were patiently waited, no rush. And upstream the vineyards they're made from have been managed respectfully for 17 years, yielding grapes that can yield a real structure and substance. He thinks retrospectively that it took 10 years of organic management and soil care to give these results, you don't see that after a mere 2 of 3 years, and he was told the same thing from other vignerons, they say 10 or 15 years are what is needed to yield nice grapes that make a difference. Because wine is first made in the vineyard. And it is good also to have a chai and cellar which have a long life behind them (alive but clean), with a yeast ambiance and which react well year after year. He says that's now quite a few years he didn't have a particular problem with his vinifications, both reds and whites. He may have had borderline batches now and then but without consequences, no accident. He considers that the juice and the chai are the reason, the fermentation dynamics is the consequence of these two parameters. He looks around and says he can't imagine making wine in an immaculate, bioligically neutral facility with spotless tiles on the walls.
__ Sauvignon 2018, about the same age but elsewhere and these are clones, not massal selections. Nice energy feel in the mouth, a bit like the previous one, there's this sort of light tickling on the tongue which I think isn't because of an ongoing fermentation but because of what I'd call the energy of the wine. But Christophe says there's still a chance it's still fermenting a bit. Very onctuous, ample and round. In terms of volume he says he didn't make a good harvest in 2018 because the mildew was very agressive, much more than usual, taking its toll in 24 hours on a grape load which was until then very generous, so he ended picking what the mildew somehow spared. and he was careful to spray in time, but the weather parameters were all there to contribute and make this moldew very agressive. Plus he thinks there are now around very resistant strains of mildew, and even the conventional domaine who spray chemicals had difficulty controlling it. He feels sometimes that the Bordeaux mix isn't efficient, plus there is copper in it, it's not cheap, and he's figuring out other ways, like spraying sulfur dus, using soufre-fleur which is more mineral than wettable sulfur. He does that with a small machine, the only thing is you must have no wind at all, and the best is do it early in the morning so that it sticks on the dew.
__ Other Sauvignon 2018, younger vines (about 20 years). The wine is more turbid here, obviously still fermenting. there is less alcohol in this batch, he says, and he'll probably blend the 3 juices of Sauvignon 2018 which we're tasting. We're speaking then about his volume of Menu Pineau (we'll taste it now), he says last year he made 6 barrels of it, which was not that bad considering the mildew problem (the grapes had dried out but there was no rot because the weather remained dry, things could have been much worse). the best year he ever made with the Menu Pineau in terms of volume was 8 barrels, the smallest volume ever for it being one barrel. Christophe says to Sachiko who doesn't understand all what we say, that he'll explain to her again the important things.
__ Menu Pineau 2018, from a normal-size barrel. the wine is also still turbid. Nose quite floral. In the mouth, still sweet, almost bernachestyle. He says he's not in hurry, he'll see if it accelerates with the warmer season. But he says he never really stalled, he always kept fermenting, just that it's longer and takes it time. Mouth : beyond the sweetness I feel this vividness proper to the Menu Pineau, Christophe says this wine is closer to the Romorantin or the Chenin, and it accepts well oxidation, it stands well an oxidative élevage while the Sauvignon doesn't accept it well. This said, he tops regularly although not that much in winter, it's more at the beginning when it bubbles with the fermentation push and in summer with a higher evaporation.
__ Other barrel of Menu Pineau. Maybe more advanced in its fermentation, notv easy to tell. Nice to sip though, like the first, even if it's far from the finished wine.
__ Pineau d'Aunis 2018, with its exciting color (the real color is even more beautiful than what is rendered here). He did a maceration with whole clusters, no destemming, there was a light stomping in the bottom of the fermenter at the beginning to release juice, then one or two remontages. The fermentation was
triggered with an already fermenting batch. The maceration lasted from 2 to 3 weeks, he tasted regularly the juice and when he feels it begins to move toward alcohol and risks extracting tannins that are not elegant (if stems are not fully ripe) he decides to press. He did the maceration in this 20-hectoliter tank on the right, it is convenient because he can go ionside and stomp the grapes. He says it is very good for a maceration to have a wide tank or fermenter, and not very high. He uses it every year and his maceration went fine every time.
Super nice wine, I love it (Christophe had warned me it wasn't finished but it seemed pretty advanced to me). Candy aroma, hints of grenadine with some spices too. The surface of the parcel is 20 or 30 ares, and he didn't have too much mildew there. This is the first time he makes Pineau d'Aunis ! [I see already the importers rushing to send an order...], that's a parcel that was farmed by his father-in-law and this year he's having the chance to begin work with it. He considers it as a try, I encourage him, this seems already terrific, he has a total volume of 13,5 hectoliters, not bad. The wine feels moderate in alcohol even if 2018 was higher, it's probably 12 or 12,5 % he says. Picking was in october, this variety is not that early ripening. i ask with a bit of worry in my voice if he'll keep making this every year, he says he'll decide. Let's cross our fingers...
__ Gamay maceration, two barrels only because of mildew in 2018 (will be under the cuvée name Les Ormeaux). He pressed directly part of the Gamay with another load of Côt which was aslo damaged, and this part here which was in better shape
was put to macerate whole clustered. It macerated quite quickly but at this stage when he tasted he wasn't sure the malolactic was completed. The wine is dry now, the primary fermentation is over. Very nice, nice substance, enjoyable fruity wine. Maybe indeed a sharper vividness than normal which may hint at an unfinished malolactic.
Christophe says he makes very few analysis tests at the lab, he says what is important is be patient, worrying is often unnecessary. He says it's important not to hurry and let the wine make its way. He regrets that too many wines, particularly by young vignerons, are bottled too early and he feels the wine is imprecise, not ready, it's obvious for him that had the vigneron waited more time to let the wine stabilize, it would have been much better.
It's like if all the good and patient work in the vineyard was ruined by a rush in the cellar to have the wine bottled and sold. He says whatever the pressure from the customers, the young vignerons should resist and let the wine go when it's ready and the lees fully settled.
__ Cabernet Franc 2018 (may be 5 % Cabernet Sauvignon in there), macerating on skins in a tightly sealed barrel since the harvest, he's been doing this type of long barrel macerations for 3 or 4 years. This will be his cuvée La Flou. To put the destemmed grapes
in there he takes off the round upper end of the barrel and after it's full to the top, seals everything back (you have to be familar with the barrel architecture and parts but it is no problem for him). He plans to rack these barrels when the good weather comes with higher temperature, he will tilt the barrels, take out the free-run juice, take off the metal straps and the wooded cap so as to take the grapes out, press them, blend the whole, and possibly put the juice back in barrels (he made 3 such barrels this year).
He smells a bit of volatile here, it's not obvious to me. But he feels it's getting better, he tasted the barrel before and at one point it was worse (he doesn't like at all volatile), and also, what we taste here is just the jus de goutte (free run), so it's just part of the end wine, it will change a lot in the end, he's eager to see what the blend will taste like, there will be more tannin, more substance. I love the silky feel in the mouth already, very beautiful.
Unlike a barrel of wine he doesn't top it up, it's sealed and there's no remontage. At the beginning it's full to the top, then later the grapes fall a bit under their own weight. Christophe tells Sachiko that it'd be interesting for her too to take part to the devatting, pressing and blending of the juice. For the press he uses a small horizontal press that looks like a toy.
We walk down again to the intermediary room to rinse our mouth with the Sauvignon we tasted at the beginning, definetely to be bottled soon, Christophe says. It should be ready for the buyers and shipped on demand. Right now he has shipping ready for Denmark, the United States, Japan.
__ After this enjoyable rinsing, Christophe pours us a late harvest of Sauvignon 2018. Picked in november. The late season was beautiful, but this said, this wasn't a very high potential for alcohol, it was around 18 % something like that. All the sugar will not be converted and it should stop at around 15-16 %. Hre will release this sweet wine without any SO2 addition, but the élevage will last 2 or 3 years, he thinks. There will be no filtration either for this demi-sec, here again the patient work of time will allow this sulfites-free, unfiltered wine. Next time you hear someone supposedly in the trade telling you it's impossible.....
He made the wine from a parcel with lots of damage from mildew, doing the picking with just a few people, mostly family. There was no leaves anymore on the vines and it was easy to do the picking, he felt happy to have waited that long, even if of course he checked ther weather all along until the picking in november. He says you need to adapt to each vintage and different conditions, be ready for new things. He says there's something akin to being a cook, you have different ingredients and try do the best, improvise, and it's so much better than square fixed plans implemented every year.
Very fresh, gets down easy. He has a single barrel with a little bit more to do the topping. He may also move it later into a tank with floating lid.
We then walk to Christophe's house nearby and there he opens a bottle of Trio 2016, a Vin de France (table wine) which is a blend of Menu Pineau & Sauvignon. The name of the cuvée may be misleading, there's only two varieties here, the third is himself, he says with a grin. He says there's probably around 60 % Sauvignon here, the two being blended several months before bottling. He says that in spite of the long élevage there was a bit of residual sugar at bottling time, which may give a light frizzante feel in the mouth. Good balance, and the gas helps in the freshness feel.
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