Pouillé, Touraine (Loire)
I also visited Laurent Saillard who was like Anouk & Paul in the vineyard pruning with a small team. The temperature was a bit less cold than a few days before (Thésée is just facing Pouillé on the other side of the Cher river) I found them in the parcel of Pineau d'Aunis (the one for the cuvée Scarlette) not very far from Laurent's chai on the plateau. The vines on this 50-are parcel are something like 50 years old. They began to prune in the very last days of november, worked an additional 2 weeks in december and now they had been kicking back to work for a few days when I stopped there (they started working at 8:30 am that day but i showed up wisely at 11). Normally they should be pruning at this quiet pace until mid march.
Laurent hasn't been to the U.S. for a while, the borders are closed, and the situation is pretty messy there. Asked if he has other Aunis elsewhere apart from this parcel, he reminds me that he planted some 2 years ago but they're not yet in production, should be next year hopefully. Until now they pruned some sauvignon, the day before they went in a parcel of gamay to see how it was faring.
Here again, a small team of skilled pruners, Laurent, Johan (who also works here when he's not with Anouk & Paul), and an Italian transplant from Venice, Elisa. She's been there a while, you can spot here in a couple of pictures when Laurent picked his grapes, see story. She went back to Italy in between but came back here a month ago for the pruning season. She is a sommelier originally and worked in restaurants back in Italy, and since she did the harvest here it related strongly to her as an experience and she wanted to go further. Laurent says that the day before it was really very cold in the area, especially with the wind, and there's always wind on this plateau (a good thing I guess on other seasons). They either leave 2 coursons when a given vine is a bit weak, otherwise they leave a cane, usually it's still standing up but they will tie them horizontal later.
We drove to the chai a couple kilometers from the parcel, I had heard about Laurent having started to make a few cuvées from purchased grapes and I was curious. And it was nice to see this mural behing the Grenier fermenters. Asked what sparked
this interest to make a few négoce wines [he hates the word actually], he said he had lots of demand he couldn't fulfill, he also wanted to vinifies other things he didn't have in his own parcels, and lastly, he wanted to be able to keep working his 6-hectare vineyard (soon 7 when young plantings reach production age) the way he does now, doing the job correctly at his own pace and without rushing, which would have been difficult if he decided to increase his surface.
So he met this guy based a couple villages west from here whom he respects, he has 17 hectares, farms organic, he makes interesting wines as well, so they created a friendly relationship and will certainly renew the operation in the following years. From his estate surface this year Laurent made 200 hectoliters and he bought an additionnal 160 or 170 hectoliters from this guy (from about 3 hectares). This grower also sells grapes to Noëlla, to Marie Rocher and a few others, vinfying a bit of his own grapes as well.
the mural behind the fermenters was made by a friend of his, a woman from Berlin that has good experience in street murals as well. Nice job !
This grower is named Julien Moreau, Domaine de Cambalu, he's located in Francueil along the Cher river, just beyond the Loir-et-Cher line (it's in the département of Indre-et-Loire). The temperature in the chai is quite low, 5 C (41 F), Laurent washes glasses so that we can taste but we'll have to warm our glasses with the palm of our hands. There are a few pallets of Julien Pineau's wines in here because he hasn't any labelling machine at his own place and he comes here to put the labels before shipping (to Japan for these pallets).
Laurent says that he has less wine this year (that's why not that many barrels in this room) : because of the intense heat this summer he had lots of grilled, dessicated grapes in august (on the reds) and it took a toll on the volume in certain parcels. So instead of having these empty barrels sitting idly (and possibly having problems), he lent them to friends for this year, hoping next year will see a rebound.
We first taste Lucky You 2020 from a stainless-steel tank, a blend with 20 % Chardonnay, the rest Sauvignon. Even if it's a white, it's so cold that we have to warm the glass in our hands. Laurent says that he likes this vintage because there's less alcohol and more acidity, allowing to be back in the style of wines this region is accustomed to. 2018 & 2019 were high-alcohol years with 13,5 %, 14 %, 14,5 % and here it's more acidic, he has to check the alcohol but he thinks it's 12,5 %. The wine taste good, really finished wine for me, very enjoyable, very balanced, nice mouth touch, harmonious with nice gras (richness), he says he just waits that it sediments and will bottle that somewhere in march. This is his large cuvée, 90 % exported. He now sells in 17 countries. He sells a bit less in the U.S. because of the tax. He sells well also in Japan, China, Australia and now sells to 4 provinces in Canada (Que, Ont, BC and Alberta). Ths year he added Mexico, Ireland, China.
Blank is a cuvée of sauvignon vinified in oak, here obviously 400-liter demi-muids which are 5 or 6 years old (they're made by Vicard). 100 % Sauvignon, his old vines.The wine is less cloudy (not that the one in tanks was really turbid), possibly because of the round walls of the barrel, or because this barrel room gets colder. Bottled after a year of élevage. Nice sappy style in the mouth, almost saline.
Laurent began to make a solera in clay (amphora, the one in the background), right now you have 2 vintages here of Blank, his old vines of Sauvignon (the 160-liter vessel is full to the top), half 2018, half 2019. Later he'll bottle half the vessel and complete with samely old sauvignon 2020, and so on year after year. Just a try for now, no plan to sell this wine for now, he needs time to really build this solera. We taste it as well, very nice wine with length and palate feel, very enjoyable. He tops the amphora like a barrel. Doesn't takes a lot of wine, it's at the beginning that he had an issue with an amphora that needed lots of topping up, that's because he hadn't let it soak enough time in water, like you're supposed to do before using them.
Laurent says he set up a distinct structure for his purchased grapes, the company is named Laurent Saillard Sarl and the wines are made in a separate room in this building (this is required by law in France). These wines being designed for easy drinking,
they're not aged, they're vinified in tanks. He also made a point of designing labels that wouldn't make the consumer confusing the estate wines with the négoce wines. He chose to invert the color duality by having the text in white and the color in the background. For this first vintage with purchased grapes, he bought Grolleau, Gamay and Pineau d'Aunis. And part of the Pineau d'Aunis is Pineau d'Aunis Teinturier which he didn't even know existed (I neither). He vinified them separately and that's very interesting rarity of course.
What we taste firsrt is the Grolleau 2020 (Grolleau Noir and a bit of Grolleau gris), cuvée Un Eté Partagé. Made from 40 year old vines, the wine makes 11,5 % in alcohol, it is thought to be light and easy. The back label will name the grower and say that the Domaine de Cambalu farms organic and does the picking as well, the vinification being done by Laurent. All Vin de France as well. The wine tastes like finished as well. Tannic mouth, too cold maybe. This Grolleau was picked when it was ripe, around mid september. Laurent began to pick his own surface august 22, and he had Sauvignon at 12 % potential at this time.
Laurent walks outside the chai to the other room where these new cuvées are stored and comes back with his sampling jug : We now taste La Paire, it is made from Gamay and a little bit of Grolleau blended later (also purchased to this grower), the name also hints at his collaboration with Julien Moreau, like "Un été partagé"
means a shared summer, also to highlight this collaboration with the grower. La Paire is also a tongue-in-cheek way to allude to his estate cuvée La Pause, which is also made with Gamay.
The wine has the warmful, enjoyable feel of Gamay, indeed an easy-to-swallow wine. Makes 11,5 % alcohol as well. I'm not sure I warmed my glass enough but man, that tastes good already. I ask Laurent if he's sure to get the same parcels next year, he says his goal to work fair trade with the grower, so he trusts him for the farming and the picking, and he buys not by the volume (if the grower has lots of sorting to do he'd be paid less) but by parcels, meaning the grower feels better, his work is really rewarded, regardless of the end volume picked. The thing is, Laurent may end up with less, or more volume than the one he counted on, like this time he planned to buy 100 hectoliters and ended up with 170 hectoliters, but that's better for the relation. Going back to my question, he says yes, he'll get these same parcels for the following vintages. Speaking of the prices for these cuvées they will be at 7 € without tax.
The last but not the least : Ça se Discute, Pineau d'Aunis, also purchased to Julien Moreau.Vin de France, 12 % alcohol. What we taste is 50 % regular Pineau d'Aunis and 50 % Teinturier type. These teinturiers were used in the past to give a darker red to the wine. He vinified them separately (for the maceration) because they were not picked the same day,
and he blended the juices when pressed. As you can see the Aunis is a bit darker than we're used to. I make my best to warm the glass before tasting. I ask Laurent if this grower has enough Aunis (a rare and sought-after variety these days), he says he has enough to not only sell some to Laurent but also vinify some for himself (in red also). Good news, I'll visit him one of these days. Delicious wine indeed with a nice chalky tannic mouth, this delicate freshness and signature tannins I can't get enough of. Laurent says that it's what he likes also in Pineau d'Aunis, when there's not only this white pepper thing, but also this substance. The way it feels already today, I'm very excited about this cuvée. I'm very happy that Laurent made the step to buy grapes, I remember that he was unwilling to do it in the past and I use to lobby for the winemakers for it, because it helps both growers who don't vinify everything, and themselves because they reached the maximum surface they can farm reasonably on an artisan mode. He plans to bottle these wines in march, they'll be available probably starting in april. They'll be unfiltered. Speaking of SO2 there's nothing added to this day, he'll see how they behave before bottling. He always makes a trial before, by leaving 2 or 3 days a wine in a bottle to see how it changes.
Back to the cuvées domaine : La Pause 2020, a Gamay but not designed as a thirst wine. Élevage in this Grenier tronconic vat. 40 hectoliters in there. Bottled end of spring. Very enjoyable with nice richness, like a fruity sweetness. Laurent says the élevage will bring velvetness in the mouthfeel.
The Grenier tronconic vat is really filled to the top, and there's a strange-looking bung at the top to modulate safely the exchange with outside air ; when you take out the cover or lid, you can see the water, there's so2 in there and it kind of prevents unwanted bacteria or other harmful things to pass, without this so2 from being in direct contact with the wine.
Lastly, we taste Joy full 2020, 100 % Cabernet Franc. Laurent says it's a light type of Cabernet, I agree, almost a thist wine type. He says the alcohol must be around 12 % here. When he picked it was ripe for him and without the characteristic green pepper and now he wants to keep vinifying this way, on the light side : it's all destemmed and short maceration, like 6 days, that's why the color itself is so light as well. Surprising easyness, especially already in january and from the vat. I try to figure how it will be after two years in bottle, my bet is, really great. He has 13 hectoliters here, or 1500 bottles, not a big volume. Priced 9 e without tax.
At one point Julien Pineau who also manages the local wines of Junko Arai dropped at Laurent's chai. Junko Araï who in the past had her own domaine here (Les Bois Lucas) lives mostly in Japan but she comes every year to make cuvées in several French regions, with the help of different winemakers. Actually Laurent's chai belonged to Junko, he bought her back when she closed her domaine. I found time to ask Julien him pose near this cage full with Junko's Côt 2019, very interesting for me too because I witness the picking of this Côt back in 2019 (see this story) by Julien and his team, Junko was there in person for this harvest....
The cardboard sign which is a reminder left on the pallet reads "Côt Junko vin de France 2019 0,75 l"
Your pictures did not show .. I miss your pictures, it's the best part.
Posted by: Marshall Wehr | February 05, 2021 at 11:43 PM
Thanks for the note. Here they now seem to display. I know there's an issue with Typepad, some pictures don't display on some posts, just an url or an icon. They said they're working on it...
B.
Posted by: Bert | February 11, 2021 at 02:27 PM