A bit late on schedule, here is the part II
I showed up unannounced at the cellar of Vincent Bergeron also in Montlouis, he was there by chance. Frantz Saumon who still uses part of the cellar wasn't there. Vincent says that here in the area they had losses with the frost in the spring, twice, they tried everything, the wind turbines (for those who could afford), burning straw, anti-frost candles. Then long drought with no rain this year including most of last winter, so, smaller yields this year.
The picture above shows a small cellar room under the cliff which Frantz Saumon vacated for him, he'll try to make Montlouis (sweet wines) here, with élevage on fine lees. This room is more humid than the other room he used last year, maybe 10 % of the volume, like 10 liters per barrel, so it should help in this regard to put the barrels in this one.
Vincent says these frost occurences stretched over more than 2 weeks, the level of threat going up and down, during this time they had to stay on the alert, sleeping little. The other thing is that for 2 weeks you don't do anything else and when the threat is gone suddenly you have everything to manage, the soil, the weeds... On the other hand in 2019 he didn't spray a lot, only 4 times, making a total of kilogram metal/hectare of copper only. But the grapes and vines suffered from drought (those who took leaves down suffered from grilled grapes as well). Himself hasn't cleared the leaves, especially after these frosts, he didn't debud, he left all the foliage and this was a right move. And for the drought there's little they can do, they only watered the baby vines that were planted this year.
Vincent opened this refreshing pet-nat 2018 (Chenin -- Vin de France) to drink in the shade (it was pretty hot that day), and by the way this comes from a parcel he bought from Lise & Bertrand Jousset. Zero SO2 here even at bottling, tirage in november, disgorgement in may, most of the bottles were shipped to Japan. Tasted very well, now he says the wine changes a bit, the residual sugar kind of vanished, leaving an acidity feel in its place. il like the acidulous style and the bubbles are not demonstrative, which I like.
Speaking of the grapes this year. Vincent warns that there are possibility of unbalance this year (and he wonders if that will repeat in the future), for example his Pinot Noir which he picked a couple days ago it's fine they didn't suffer from drought, it's an old parcel which he has been plowing several years in a row, the only thing is he had lots of small green berries (that will not make their veraison) so he'll vinify this pinot as a pet-nat rosé this year (maceration of these green berries would not turn good). But the Chenin grapes have already lots of sugar, lots of acids malic & tartaric which will ask for longer élevage, and the grapes taste like they've struggled. In 2018 already the alcohol was high like 14 % which is not the profile of the region; he says the option is do differently, change the vinification details. But as a conclusion there are also nice things and they'll adapt to the vintage as usual. Yields will be 20 ho/ha this year but the previous year they had made satisfying volumes.
Vincent also planted 60 ares of Chenin this year, using selection massale from wood cut at Bertrand & Lise, and also in Frantz' parcels, he hopes 3 years from now to get closer to normal yields, thanks to this young parcel. Vincent also bought some grapes to make négoce wines, he didn't intend to do that initially but with the difficult years recently in terms of volumes he had to.
Vincents tips me about a good restaurant that opened in Montlouis : Le Berlot, terrific wine list including old vintages, great food, is managed by the former owners of the Casse-Cailloux in Tours, a reference (they took with them the wine cellar). The nice thing is they have a few affordable simple rooms there, in case you pick these great wines and prefer not to drive after that.
In the area I noticed these ultimate tools against frost in Montlouis, these wind turbines (six of them if I'm right) belong to Jacky Blot, they are very mobile and easy to put in place in case of imminent threat. The advantage compared to fixed wind turbines is that depending of the direction of the wind, you position them ideally so that a maximum surface will be impacted by its counter measures. Typically you move as well a burn barrel underneath to disseminate warmer air and smoke. Not everyone can afford these tools even though they're cheaper than fixed machines.
I also went to Les Maisons Brûlées, the biodynamic wine farm managed by Corinne & Paul Gillet outside Pouillé-sur-Cher. that day they were picking the parcel of old gamay below the farm with all the woods around. Corinne was in charge of directing
the pickers and checking the order in which the
rows would be harvested. And they were using their draft horse to pull the grapes to the chai. And no tractor needed as the parcel is so close to the chai, the horse would pull the sled up there, easy life. Having the parcels around the farm is really ideal (their other ones are uphill on the other side of the farm, so very close as well), makes the use of draft horses much easier, no need of a van to bring them there.
Actually they got this horse from Olivier Cousin in Anjou, this Percheron named Danseur is the child of Olivier's horse and Michel Augé's mare (born here near the farm), good breeding indeed... I followed the horse and its walker along the rows, there was generous green grass along the woods and the horse was so happy with it, at last some fresh feed i guess. When walking and stopping between the rows it was not shy of crushing a few bunches here and there and the guy behind it had to call it out. When it'd catch a bunch you could see the white juice of the gamay flowing from his mouth to the ground, it must have been delicious because he'd to it again at the next stop...
Here Paul Gillet and his staff destem by hand a load of sauvignon for a vin de France named Ça Me, there'l be a 3-week maceration with these grapes in a tank. The workers (probably pickers working also in the chai if needed) unloaded a van filled with boxes of grapes, pouring them on the metal grid under which other boxes were gradually filling with the destemmed grapes, making it easy to afterthen transfer them into the tank in the back. Simple things work, it doesn't take that much time and machinery and it's fun. Paul Gillet (in red) comes to help, one of the guys jokes asking if there's nothing else to do at the press...
Paul indeed had to do in the cellar and at the press, here he is checking with a trainee the filling of the barrel, direct from the débourbage tank if I remember well, making sure that it doesn't overflow wildly at the end. Picture made with a Realme 3 Pro, this phone is quite good for pictures, so much better than Xperia.
When I showed up at the chai of Marie Rocher at La tesnière she was there doing some cleaning, she had just brought in three weeks before her "new" press, a non-pneumatic Vaslin Veritas 22, which if i understan well are easy to find in France and affordable, she found it in the Muscadet. I tasted her freshly-pressed juice of Sauvignon, picked the previous day (that was her first vendange in Faverolles). She had also the rosé 2019 that had just been blended. She was to pick her gamay the following day. Super nice Sauvignon juice, and the rosé as well, the latter having a nice acidity and bitterness something, lovely, will be used for a pet-nat.
At one point I passed in front of the cellar of Estelle & François Saint-Leger between Monthou-sur-Cher and Thésée and saw a car in front of it, I slowed down and parked the motorbike, they were there cleaning before the harvest. François says that Les Capriades have begun picking in the parcels they sell the grapes of, but for their own wine production they will begin to pick soon. Asked about the grapes this year they say it's good but with less juice, the berries are smaller, haven't grown much in these conditions (he says there has been only 20 or 30 milimeters of rain the whole summer), but it should make good juices. They sprayed 5 times with a spray per week and stopped the 12th of june. And the weather is perfect now for the picking, even though that particular day was pretty hot in the sun.
They still have wines from 2018 in tanks, part of it they will move into barrels, there's a bit of Sauvignon, there's also a couple of reds including a Cabernet-Franc/Grolleau and a Gamay Chaudenay (a dark-juice type of gamay). They keep selling grapes to Les Capriades (and Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme if i'm right) to pay the bills, especially that they're renovating an old house which they bought recently (that was the one they were renting until then) and that it takes time.
I tasted from a tank the Sauvignon 2018 which has still residual sugar (1007), no SO2 at all, he hopes it will start again and finish the sugar, they moved the tank closer to the door where the temperature is higher, but they're not in hurry.
Next I tasted the Gamay Chaudenay 2018, still in tank, man, that was good ! No SO2 also. They say they'll bottle part of it, there's the equivalent of 2 barrels, they'll bring some at Les Vins du Coin, the small natural-wine fair early december in Blois (you can purchase bottles there at the domaine's price). This wine will be unfiltered and without SO2 like it is now. I can't but recommend to ask for it, savoury and delicious. In 2019 they'll make one as well.
The Cabernet-Franc/Grolleau was a different wine, not as easy, with some astringency in the mouth (the Cabernet had whole-cluster maceration) but it's also very early to taste it this variety typically needs 2 or 3 years to express itself best. They may put it in barrels some time at the end of the élevage to round it a bit.
Luckily it was the first day of harvest when I went to La Lunotte in Couffi (Cher valley, Loire), and this was the end of the day, they were having a few glasses with the pickers under a tree, were soon to press the Sauvignon, Chistophe Foucher was happy, a very nice year he says, he has plenty of grapes, they haven't suffered from the heat or the drought here, except a few partly-grilled bunches on the 2nd heat wave. He says it's the first year he has so many grapes, with yields from 30 to 40 hectoliters/hectare in the sauvignon and the gamay. Last year on the other hand he lost a lot with the mildew, he lost 2/3 of the fruit. This year will help in ths regard. I ask about the problem of having too much sugar this year (something i was told around) but he says no, he checked the grapes lately it was rather 12,5-13 potential, not 14-15. With the important fruit load on the vines it tends to slow the maturity and the sugar.
After the few glasses of wine all the staff proceeded to add the remaining 24 boxes of Sauvignon brought back at the end of the afternoon to complete the current press load. Here again it's a good old Vaslin Veritas 22, very appreciated tool. That day he says they have picked half to 3/4 hectare already but he still has enough sauvignon to pick for a few more days. By the way the wine Christophe poured was Sauvignon 2017, it's sold out by now, his volumes being not that big he doesn't keep bottles except like here a few ones.
He says it's beautiful to see that in the vineyard, beautiful bunches. He has prepared the cellar, taking out the wines from the barrels ready for the juice, he also found other barrels because with the nice volumes this year he was short of vessels for the wine. He still doesn't know if the 45 barrels will be enough (his cellar is small he can't take much more in).
Here Christophe shows Sachiko rinse a bucket, Sachiko is from Japan and has been learning the work with the right vignerons...
Everybody seemed pretty happy about the grapes and the vintage but Didier Barrouillet who does the lab & analysis for many vignerons had a more mitigated view of the situation at the time of the harvest late september. He said there's lots of inbalance, something he never saw, lots of acidity on one side with lots of sugar on the other side, something you didn't have even in 2003 (the other major heat wave). I told him I thought it was good to have these two things but he says no, because you don't know if you have to pick or not, the issue being that the grapes are not really ripe (phenolic maturity speaking) in spite of the sugar. And picking was still being decided because there was no rain forcast for the next few days. The good part is that with the high (excessive for him) acidity, there will be no danger with harmful bacteria which don't like it. the fermentation should be thus easy, except that with so much sugar that may be hard to go to the end. Even for the domaines which add lab yeast that may be tricky.
I dropped at Jacky Preys in the Valençay area, this is a mainstream domaine with a large vineyard surface and Jacky can be credited for having saved and resurrected the variant of the Sauvignon variety known under the name of Fié Gris or Sauvignon Gris, Until he put it back in the spotlight, the rows and parcels of Fié Gris were being silently erased from the vineyards by the neglect of the wine authorities who saw it as an unwanted minor variety, pushing growers to keep regular Sauvignon instead of this pink-skin variant. His cuvée of Fié Gris was a success here and abroad, helping others (like Goisot in Burgundy) as well to start a parcel and a cuvée with it thanks to massal selection from his wood.
But the bright heads of the French wine authorities (CIVT) who never miss the opportunity to make fools of themselves recently (last year, in 2018) blocked Jacky Preys' iconic cuvée, telling him that he couldn't print anymore the word Fié Gris on his bottles of Touraine AOC, forcing him either to blend massively with "regular" Sauvignon (a small percentage of Fié Gris is allowed) or downgrade as table wine (Vin de France), which he opted for (especially that the wine was already bottled). This is yet another appalling reason to question why we need the AOC system and we understand in stories like this (and there are many others) why more and more people among the knowlegeable public have a mild consideration for the alleged quality guarantee of the Appellation system. Jacky's Fié-Gris mention on his Touraine wines had been tolerated for years but some bureaucrat terminated the exemption from the rule.
Here we're having a glass of the cuvée "L'Interdit" [means "the prohibited"] Vin de France Fié gris 2018 which is still in tank. He had a big shipping order ready to go to San Francisco (the pallets were ready) and he had to relabel the bottles and he called in California to tell about the ordeal but the buyer told him it was not a problem on his side. The thing is, the buyers abroad are fully aware of the shortcomings of the French system and have adopted long ago the table wine status, helps focus on what's in the bottle and not the brand.
Learning that the workers were finishing to harvest the parcel of Fié Gris I rushed there but the machine harvest was already gone, there was only a worker with the tractor and the gondola, and he was looking for leftover bunches along the rows for a couple more buckets to put in the gondola.
The combine always misses some grapes here and there, sometimes like here, because a post was on the way, you find a vine with almost all its bunches. Of course the birds need to eat but they already had their lot before the harvest day, be sure of that.
Tasted a few berries of Fié Gris as you can see, I found this leftover bunch myself after wandering along the rows, sorry for the birds who were supposed to have these leftover grapes. They taste gorgeous, sweet and filled with sun. On this picture you can see how different Fié Gris looks from mainstream Sauvignon, and from a distance you could mistake it for a red grape.
I dropped also at André Fouassier who happened to be pressing Sauvignon grapes. He had the combine picking done early in the morning in the cool hours (temperature was pretty high in this late season) to avoid oxidation. I asked him about this vintage 2019, the condition of the grapes. He told me the grapes are great this year but the vines suffered a bit from the drought, especially for his own as he leaves grass grow, they brought unwanted concurrence to the vines regarding the water. He noted lower volume in terms of juice for both reds and whites, which is a problem for vignerons like him in Appelations [Valençay] where the price remains cheap. Last year was good both in terms of volume and quality, he made great pinot noirs, also very nice whites, but the négoce (to which he sells in bulk part of his wine) didn't buy well because there was lots of wine available around.
To finish this story, here is the first harvest i saw by accident while driving with B. across Burgundy a few weeks ago. Nobody seemed to be picking around but this team and we stopped by as they were leaving the parcel (this was the end of the afternoon). Here is Benoit Moreau of Domaine Bernard Moreau (he's the one in the family who oversees the vineyard part, I've read later he does a good job at that) on Chassagne-Montrachet, and the parcel is 1er Cru Les Champs Gains. Nice chardonnay with small size berries.
The harvest was within days to begin when i shot this picture in Burgundy (here near Monthelie) and it seems some domaines were still short of pickers. I posted the help wanted on my Instagram, don't know if some of you guys were interested. Note down the phone number for next year. Many people come from far away for the picking season, Spain, Eastern Europe for example. But not all domaines offer the same experience like in these natural wine farms where there's really an ethic plus great food and wines of course...
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