Ouchamps, Sologne (Loire)
There was another multi-location tasting event that weekend, it was in the Sologne
region near Blois, the region that is home to many rebels, like Courtois, Villemade
Lemasson, Venier,
Puzelat and others. This professional tasting event was also taking place along 3 days (friday to monday), and spread over 6 locations, namely the facilities of Puzelat, Lemasson, Villemade, Venier, Tessier and P.O. Bonhomme, and the participating vignerons were part Loire, part from further regions. The tricky part was that you had to drive (ride the motorbike for me) between them, even if for a small distance, with the risk of breath checks in-between if the authorities were aware of the tasting, which they certainly were. That's why I went to only 3 of the 6 locations, and over two days, this felt more secure especially that there was a 45-50 km distance back to the other side of the Cher river afterwards.
Here is the first location I went to, the wine farm of Olivier Lemasson (les Vins Contés). The protocol (see the picture on right at the door) was here also very secure, I had reserved a time window for the visit (some days were fully booked), you'd bring your own glass, you'd get a cardboard cup to spit and leave your contact info in case of problem. Plus, you'd enter a given winery room only if the number of persons there was low enough.
At one point I shot this picture of Olivier near one of his tractors, a French make I had never heard of, Energic. It seems possible to find these old Energic tractors for sale on the Internet, and they're not that expensive.
The first tasting stand I went to in the chai was the one of Jeremy Quastana, you may be familiar with him, I visited him a few years ago both at this wine farm and also in Blois when he worked part-time at Les 400 Coups, a natural-wine bar there. Since then he enlarged his vineyard surface to 4,5 hectares,
found a house he's busy renovating and he stopped working at the bar. By the way, the young guy with the scarf on the right is Thimothé who runs Canon-Canon, an excellent
wine bar/restaurant in Rochefort-sur-Loire near Angers, he was there to select new cuvées to buy for his venue. I remember passing through his bar a couple years ago with Babass and Jérôme Lambert (mid-scroll in this story), there's an amazing wine portfolio for this small village...I asked Thimothé how business was going with the closure of restaurants, he say they're partly compensating with selling wines, working as caviste. That's a good thing for everybody, restaurateurs like him and vignerons.
__ Mutin, Vin de France 2020, a Sauvignon made by his brother Jean, who is beginning to make wine as well, from a 1-hectare surface. Barrel sample, will be bottled march 18. Jean is also a cutler (makes hand-made knives). Turbid wine, acidulous feel, atypical fr a Sauvignon. 2 grams/hectare at this stage (the other cuvées had nothing).
__ Blue label (no name as yet), Gamay 2020, barrel sample a thirst wine made by his girlfriend who also has some surface of hers. Super fruit, unfiltered, no SO2.
__ L'Insurgé 2020, Gamay, vines aged 60 (back to his own cuvées). More substance, delicious in spite of the cold temperature. He vinifies everything whole-clustered.
__ Côt Lectif 2020. The vintage was ripe that year, color a bit darker than some other years. Nice tannic chew, well integrated.
__ Buena Onda 2020, Pet'nat. Young vines of Gamay. A delightful Pet'nat with just a hint of sweetness and a tannic frame to balance it. Very light bubbles, makes it very vinous. Pro prices of his wines are between 6,5 € and 7 €.
Asked about the sales, he had sold all the 2019 and the 2020 has been well reserved, so he didn't see a fall in his sales basically. Foreign buyers renewd their orders and for Japan he sent some samples before orders.
Olivier Lemasson wasn't at his stand for Les Vins Contés and Sébastien who works for him was pouring the wines with a communicative cheerfulness. All the bottles here are 2020.
__ Le Puits, Vin de France 2020, Sauvignon. Also an atypical Sauvignon for me, there's a saline feel and this energy and aerial quality. 11 % alc.! 5,2 € Pro price.
__ Sois Mignon, Vin de France 2020. Sauvignon. In the same style but a bit riper, with more gras, more richness. 12 % alc. 6 €. Sold out.
__ Bois Sans Soif, Vin de France 2020. Blend of Chenin and Menu Pineau. 11,5 %. 6,8 € Pro. Very droit, with a mineral feel, nice structure.
__ Petit
Rouquin 2020, 100 % Gamay, only 11 % alcohol. The mouth feel is quasi Pineau d'Aunis,
very enjoyable, surprising ! Love it ! 40-year-old vines, vinified with carbo one week with whole clusters. Zero SO2, unfiltered. 5 € Pro. Good deal indeed. Sébastien says that in 2020 the issue in the vineyard was oidium, decimating sometimes entire parcels, like for Chardonnay.
__ R 20 Vin de France 2020. Changing blend/proportions along the years, here Côt (10 %), Grolleau (40 %) and Cabernet Franc (50 %), only 11 % alcohol. The mouth is just de-li-cious ! Delicate and light tannic touch, very Aunis also, I love that ! 6 € Pro.
__ Poivre et Sel Vin de France 2020, their iconic cuvée of Pineau d'Aunis (young vines) with 20 % Gamay. Nice, exciting chalky color. Man, that's Aunis for sure, easy sip ! 7 € Pro.
__ Gama Sutra, Vin de RFrance 2020, 100 % Gamay. Nice drinkability, light and easy. The wines were bottled early february. 12 %. 7 € Pro.
__ Cheville de Fer, Vin de France 2020, 100 % Côt. 11,5 % alc. Well-integrated tannin, nice red-fruits, prune aromatics with a light bitterness. 1-week carbo here.
__ Pow Blop Wizz Vin de France 2020. A Pet'nat of Cabernet Franc named from an iconic song of Serge Gainsbourg. Sweet bonbon, very enjoyable. Still sur lattes (not disgorged). They wait that the fermentation in the bottles restart with the rising temperatures, should be less sweet after then. But delicious as is... By the way some has already been shipped to the United States. 7 € Pro.
The stand of Stéphane Morin (Domaine Leonine), a former photographer who started his domaine in 2005 in the Roussillon, was inside Olivier's house.
__ Que Pasa ? 2020, a white blend of Grenache Gris, Grenache Blanc, 2-week maceration, then in barrels. 11 % alcohol. Orange color, light tannic
touch.
__ Que Pasa ?
rosé 2020 made from Syrah, direct press, these are the first grapes he picks, 11 % alc. on the label but actually 10,5 %, Stéphane says. Easy drinking, surprising ! Can you imagine, a southern-France rosé that is easy and light ! 6,5 € Pro.
__ Bottle Neck 2020, a red made with 85 % Syrah and 35 % Grenache. 12 % alc.
__ Malophet 2020. Carignan Name made to sound like malo faite or malolactic completed. 14 % alc. Lowercase text : "Déesse des bactéries dans la mythologie fermentaire". Roundness with sweet edges. 8,8 € Pro.
__ Carbone 14, Grenache, 2-week carbonic maceration with grapes that had their temperature lowered to 4 C (39,2 F) so that the temperature gets to a maximum of 20 C (68 F). He says the intra-cellular fermentation is thus very gentle and long, the down thing is it's coming with a higher risk of competition between the yeast and the bacteria, needs to be monotoring closely. Nice substance, goes down pretty easy in spite of the 14 %.
Edouard Laffitte worked several years for the famed Estézargues coop and decided to follow the path of people like Loïc Roure and Jean-François Nicq. He started Le Bout du Monde with his first vintage in 2005.
__ Brave Margot, Vin de France 2019, a white blend of Roussanne (90 %), Grenache Gris (10 %), direct press. Unfiltered, 0,7 gr/hectoliter SO2. Delicious white, easy drinking white. Why don't we drink more whites like this, makes a perfect
alternative for rosé. 12,5 % alc. Nice acidity. Terroir of altitude.
__ L'Échappée Belle, Vin de France 2019, a red made with Syrah, Carignan and Grenache. Exciting turbid (almost milky) color, unfiltered obviously. What a mouth ! Acidity, silky tannins and energy, I love this !12,5 % alc. 5,3 € Pro.
__ Tam Tam, a Côtes du Roussillon red [some cuvées have an AOC] made with Syrah on schist, 3-week carbo. Nice one. 6,2 € Pro.
__ Hop Là, Côtes du Roussillon 2019, red blend of Grenache, Syrah, Carignan. Vines on Gneiss soil. 3-week maceration, whole-clustered. 7 € Pro. With the cold temperature of the wine, hard to tell, but feels interesting.
__ Avec le Temps, Côtes du Roussillon 2018, Carignan (40 %) and Grenache (60 %), 3-week layer-cake-style maceration. Color : lightly milky. I love that one ! Tannic weaving which awakes the palate, freshness. 12,5 % alc. 8 € Pro.
__ La Luce, Côtes du Roussillon 2018, 100 % Grenache. 4-week carbonic maceration. 13,7 % alc. Nice color, light and milky. Nice length. These 2018 arer bottled since a bit more than a year.
Lastly I went to the barrel of Loïc Roure, of the Domaine du Possible in Languedoc-Roussillon.Loïc started his domaine in 2003, adding a négoce wing in 2009 after years of drought.
__ Tout Bu or Not Tout Bu, Côtes du
Rhône 2019, 2/3 Grenache, 1/3 Mourvèdre. 12,5 % alc.
Exciting nose, earthy, dusty feel, love that wine ! My stomach noisingly approves. 6,5 € Pro.
__ L'Eau à la Bouche, Côtes du Rhône 2019. Blend of Mourvèdre, Grenache, Carignan, and 10 % Macabeu. 13 % alc. Very enjoyable to swallow, joyous wine. From what I understand, he first picked the Grenache, put it in the fermenter, and added the others successively along the pickings. I recommend this cuvée, a pleasure to drink and sip repeatedly, hard to spit. 7,5 € Pro.
__ Le Fruit du Hasard, 2019, Carignan 80 % & Syrah 20 %. 12,5 %. 5,5 € Pro.
__ C'est pas la Mer à Boire, Côtes du Rhône 2019, red blend of Grenache-Syrah-Carignan. 13 % alc. 8,5 € Pro. While tasting i chat with a new caviste in Beaune who travelled to this part of the Loire for professionnal-tasting purpose (and orders), the name of his wine shop (they ship) is AVinTure, good to take note...
That's it, I had tasted all the producers present at the wine farm of Olivier. Before leaving, here is another tractor spotted in his farm, a vintage Massey Fergusson, from the 1960s I guess...
The following day, I came back in the area but this time at the facility of Clos du Tue Boeuf (Puzelat) in Les Montils (near Blois), and the first vigneron I tasted was a vigneronne, Blandine Floch of Le Chat Huant, who makes wine in Monthou-sur-Bièvre not far from here, her first vintage was a red in 2018 which she made with her husband Jeremy Choquet, and she really began to make her own wines
(which are whites) in 2019. Her vineyard surface is a bit more than 2 hectares, which is already a good surface to work by herself, plus she plans to buy some grapes later this year to make négoce wine as well. We now taste her two whites :
__ Loriot 2020, 100 % Sauvignon, direct press. Barrel sample (will be bottled end of march). Parcel on silex/clay. Unfiltered (shouldn't be filtered before bottling), nothing added. Malolactic done.Racked twice, she says, but she likes the contact with the lees for a wine. Generous mouth with gras. There should be 1 or 1,5 gram SO2 at bottling, because some bottles travel (export). 8 € Pro price.
__ Tsituri 2020, made from Fié Gris, destemmed grapes, 3-week maceration in fiber vat, with light pigeage every day in order to keep the cap wet, then pressed gently in a basket press, decants 7 to 10 days in a tank, then in barrels and demi-muids. the name is Georgian, she did the harvest over there, she has close ties with Keti Berishvili and Tamuna Bidzinashvili in Georgia, she also went to Ramaz Nikoladze, and also with Vincent and Guillaume (Lapati Wines), two French guys who make pet-nat there.
The wine has a nice tannic chew, always nice with these skin-contact whites, which convey this feel of stony minerality. 8 € Pro.
I thought Alex would be there, but I had the surprise to see Jean Foillard in person who travelled from the Beaujolais for this long weekend.
__ Côte de Brouilly 2018, by Alex Foillard. Noses : Underwood aromas, leather, very exciting. Mouth : a bit closed, the bottle is cold and opened just a minute ago (not aerated). I think I'd have needed to warm the
glass a bit to develop the expression of the wine. 11,6 € Pro.
__ Brouilly 2018, by Alex again. Here I take time to warm up the glass in my hands, this translate in a more enjoyable mouth, glimpse of nice things to come with this Brouilly. 11,6 € Pro
__ Côte du Py, Morgon 2019 (Jean Foillard). Lovely color. De-li-cious ! Delicate wine, with this gentle frame of chalky freshness hovering on the whole experience... Love it, and certainly, this wine is still in its youth, which hints at what you're up to. 13 € Pro.
__ Fleurie 2019. More depth and body. Less easy drinking, you have to eat with that certainly, and wait a couple years to get the best. 14,5 € Pro.
Then I went to the table of Clos du Tue Boeuf's Thierry Puzelat, who was there with one of his daughters. Asked about any difficulties with the pandemic's economic consequences, Thierry says that january and early february were a bit difficult regarding the sales but it bounced back since
then, especially
since the last 10 days. On a normal year they make allotments to their regular buyers, these allotments being validated or corrected at the Pénitentes (the wine fair in Angers), but this time the buyers validated the allotments without having the opportunity to taste the wines. Thierry thought that the buyers would diminish their allotment but actually every one of them took it whole or even asked to increase it, to which he agreed when availability. His main clients are exporters and cavistes, there are few restaurants in direct among the main buyers, except Septime (the guys of Septime were present that day) or Camdeborde.
__ Vin Blanc, Sauvignon 2020. Bottled in january. Cuvée with yields of 55 ho/ha. Vivid nose. Roundness in the mouth with balance. Entry cuvée.
__ Le Petit Buisson, racking sample, bottled 15 days away. Lightly turbid. Mouth :
vivid and acidulous, love that mouthfeel ! Very different Sauvignon. Yields : les than 40 ho/ha. Higher
minerality here, he says.
__ La Gravotte 2020, a white blend of 70 % Fié Gris (pink-skin Sauvignon) and 30 % old vines of Chardonnay. First vintage of this cuvée, they planted this Fié Gris in 2000 with massale selection taken in Pouillé. Harmonious and gentle touch on the palate, goes through like spring water (not pejorative) and you just want to
sip more to experience the same again. 12 € Pro. Bottled 15 days after this visit. He thinks alcohol is 13,5 % but needs to have a check after bottling. Since 2 years they've been printing the exact alcohol level on the back label, as well as the SO2 amount (example on the left).
__ Le Buisson Pouilleux 2020. Buds get excited, more richness and sucrosity edge. 4 grams residual sugar, which is not much though.
__ Vin Rouge 2020, Gamay. Bottled. Super good, even with serving temperature a bit too low. 6,1 € Pro. Super good deal. 25 000 bottles. Got a light filtration at the first bottling in january because not enough decanted, later filtration will get none. Tronconnic vat if I'm right. SO2 : 24 mg. 13,4 % alc.
__ Rouillon, Cheverny 2020; blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir.
__ La Caillère, Cheverny 2020, Barrel sample because longer élevage. More subtle, with delicate mouthfeel and very light astringency.
here is the Pdf file of the Clos-du-Tue-Boeuf portfolio (Pro prices), all cuvées, with availibilty status ["dispo" means available right now, otherwise month named - épuisé means soldout].
Here is Puzelat's foreign imports list (Pro prices).
Then here is Cédric Bernard pouring his wines. When I visited him a couple years ago he was busy with his girlfriend plowing a parcel with his draft horse (she was there at this tasting also). Cédric says that the first two cuvées will be the ones from purchased grapes. Cédric set up a négoce named Les Bouteilles Russes through
which he sells also the wines made from his
estate grapes [OMG, the woke mob is going to discover we're all part of a Russian conspiracy..].
__ Tata Suzanne 2020, Chardonnay. Vat sample. 2nd year he makes this cuvée. Aromatic wine, sweetness feel but not that much, the wine should finish its sugar by april. I taste another sample from the same wine, but from a barrel : More vividness feel here, but around 10 grams of residual sugar as well, he says.
__ Brin de Chêvre 2020, vat sample, still turbid (around 10 grams remaining also). Chenin if I'm right.
__ La Roche, Gamay 2020. Finished wine but not bottled yet was to be bottled a week or two after this day. Beautiful color (pic on the side) A bit astringent on the sides of the mouth, this awakens you in a good way, interesting wine; to follow, when bottled. 6,5 € Pro (same price' for each cuvée here).
Always fun to meet Remi Dufaitre again, I was lucky to have him at his barrel, as he was often elsewhere around, chatting with fellow winemakers and tasting their stuff. The guy on the left here is Thierry Dubourg of L'Amitié Rit, and you recognize Timothé of Canon-Canon on the right (the best wine bars
were there).
__ Beaujolais Villages 2020 white.
Bottled early february. Mouth : quite aerial and easy, harmonious.
__ Cuvée 1000 F, a new cuvée from 2020, a whole-cluster carbonic maceration of Gamay and Chardonnay, the two together with successive layers in the fermenter (layer-pastry style). Bottled 3 weeks before. Clear color. Super enjoyable to sip with a morer obvious Chardonnay edge than Gamay. The name 1000 F is for mille feuille, the French name for layer pastry. 9 € Pro.
__ Prémices 2020, Beaujolais Villages. Bottled. Nice wine, seems very promising ! 7 € Pro. 13% alc. Remi is in my mind one of the best deals for Beaujolais Nouveau, of what I remember.
__ Brouilly 2019. Turbid, lightly-milky color. Wow ! What a mouth ! After warming the glass in my palms, what a reward ! Delicious mouth feel, fruit, delicate tannins and freshness ! Don't miss that one ! 10 € Pro.
__ Boldness, Brouilly 2019, from a magnum. Wow, another great moment, a humble, discreetly-tannic & fresh wine that goes down so easy ! And that is even though I didn't warm up the glass this time (all my heat had gone to the previous cuvée...). Kudos to Remi ! 32 € Pro (magnum size).
__ Côte de Brouilly 2019. More demonstrative, higher alcohol feel. 10,5 € Pro.
I then rode my motorbike to reach the facility of Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme 900 meters down the road across the river, that's where another few winemakers (including Pierre-Olivier) were pouring their wines for professionals that weekend. POB's facility isn't very glamorous, it's a large warehouse-style building but it's very convenient and safe.
__ Tuffeau, Chenin 2018. Purchased grapes in the Vouvray area. Tuffeau is the French word for tuf, this soft sandstone that has been used for the construction of all these old houses, the soft, chalk-style stone in which all the cellars in
the Loire are dug. Generous wine, and sappy at the same time. Unfiltered. 14 % alc. 11,5 € Pro.
__ Touraine Sauvignon 2019, made from estate grapes. Nose : citrus. Malolactic done.
6,85 € Pro.
__ Touraine Sauvignon Thésée 2019. Purchased grapes (near Thésée I guess). Would be
fine with oysters and seafood in my mind. 9,55 € Pro.
__ Melon de Bourgogne 2019, from grapes purchased in the Muscadet (makes sense). Nice gliding feel in the palate, harmony and radiance feel in the throat when swallowed, I love that ! Unfiltered. 12,5 % alc. 9,1 € Pro.
__ Touraine
Sauvignon 2020, 1st vintage of maceration cuvée (will be a Vin de France). 3-day skin contact, not bottled yet. Very citrus-like aromas, enjoyable radiance and length. 7,9 € Pro.
__ L'Ormeau des deux Croix, Vin de France 2018. Chenin, maceration white, not bottled yet. 3rd vintage of this cuvée. Nice tannic mouth, freshness and neat. 13 % alc. Bottled around march-april.
__ Pinot Noir (négoce) 2019. Bottled. Lightly turbid.
__ Vercheny, red Vin de France 2020, estate grapes, not bottled.
__ La Boissière, Vin de France 2020, Pineau d'Aunis, not bottled. 12,5 % alc.
__ La Tesnière, Vin de France 2020, from purchased grapes (from a vineyard still belonging to ex-CRB's Catherine I guess). Light astringency
__ La Probilière, Vin de France 2018, estate Gamay. Quite dark. Nice, tannic but velvety-style mouth with awakening astringency, lovely one ! Still early to open, I think, but very promising wine. 10,5 € Pro.
__ KO, Vin de France 2018, Purchased Côt. Astringency, black fruits aromas, good potential I think, needs another two years, & open before and at right temperature. 9,7 € Pro.
Here is Domaine Mosse from Anjou, it's been ages since I visited them when I think about it; René Mosse retired and Agnès & René's sons Joseph and Sylvestre (respectively 31 and 29 years old) took over, but René of course still takes part in some way. Here is a more recent story than mine with pictures of the family.
Joseph was there that day to pour the wines.
__ Bangarang 2020, Pineau d'Aunis 80 % and Cabernet Franc 20 %. The first vintage for this cuvée was 2018. Rosé color. Unfiltered but feels like filtrated.
7 € Pro.
__ Goldeneye 2019, oddly labelled as Vin de la Communauté Européenne (EU wine) : 70 % Loin de l'Oeil and 30 % Grüner Veltliner (that's why the EU thing, grapes purchased in Austria obviously). The Austrian grapes are pressed over there in Austria and hauled in a tank to Anjou with a bit of SO2. 7 € Pro.
__ Chenin 2020, vat sample, will be on the market in may (bottled april 6). Young vines of the domaine. Interesting mouth and swallowing feel. 9,5 € Pro.
__ Les Bonnes Blanches 2018. Chenin. Ripeness feel. Goes down well. 17 € Pro.
__ Le Rouchefer, Vin de France 2018. Chenin. Nice character in the mouth, length. While tasting there i chatted with a mobile caviste (caviste ambulant in French) who sells natural wine on several weekly market in a string of towns and villages of the Nièvre & eastern Saöne-et-Loire (western Burgundy). Guillaume Plantard is among the rare cavistes selling natural wines in street markets, great job ! People can check the markets he goes to, just log on his Facebook page and he also delivers within a certain distance and can do small sales events in private homes in the area.
__ Cabernet Franc 2018. Not bad ! Bottled august 2019. 9 € Pro.
__ Cabernet Franc 2017. This is a selection of barrels, the wine spent one year in barrels and one year in foudre.
Jean-Sébastien Gioan is an Auvergne native who moved to Paris in 1997 and set up there a courier business through which he befriended the early natural-wine bars like Le Baratin, Le Verre Volé and others. After learning the vigneron/winemaker
job a few month with Puzelat and later with Jean-François Nicq, he got his own vineyards in the Languedoc in 2008, starting domaine Potron Minet.
__ Pari Trouillas blanc 2019, 70 % Grenache Blanc & Grenache Gris, 30 % Macabeu. Nice mouth introduction, nothing to say, balanced, without rough edge. 6 € Pro.
__ Pari Trouillas rouge 2020, 50 % Carignan, 50 % Grenache Noir. Wole-clustered grapes carbonic maceration for 8 days. He says he uses wide fermenters, and the result is the grapes aren't compacted under their own weight, and this limits the extraction. Light color, exciting. Nothing to say, enjoyable. 12,5 % alc. 6 € Pro.
__ Roulé Boulé 2019. 80 % Syrah, 20 % Grenache Noir. I take the time to warm up my glass. Aromas of griottes (sour cherries), small red fruits. 6,8 € Pro.
__ La Berlue 2019, 80 % Grenache Noir, 20 % Mourvèdre. Longer whole-clustered maceration, then barrels. Oddly, darker color, almost passed. My preferred cuvée, love this wine. Bottled june2020. 2500 bottles. 7,8 € Pro.
As you may remember from my visit a couple years ago, Jeremy Choquet vinifies in a chai right next to Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme's facility (but in a separate building). At the time of my visite he was working with his wife
Blandine Floch but since then they parted and now make their own wines separately. Jeremy works now on 2,5 hectares (and Blandine also on 2,5 hectares). He can thus work on the cotisant solidaire status, a much lighter status in terms of taxes and bureaucratic paper work, but the surface has to be small and you must keep the turnover under a cap.
__ Sansonnet, vin de France 2020, Gamay. Should be bottled end of march. Fruity, nothing to say, promising with more time and served at the right temperature. 6,5 € Pro.
__ Pic Noir, Vin de France 2020, 100 % Pinot Noir. Bottleed end of march as well. Mouth : very gourmand, appealing with a zest of sucrosity. 9,5 € Pro.
__ Last Cow, Vin de France 2020. 100 % Côt. Barrel sample. Around 7 days of carbonic maceration with whole-clustered grapes (the other cuvées got 10 days), no pigeage, then pressing gently so as not to have undesired extraction which would crush the stems. Very light, chalky tannin, very fresh with a light astringency, love that wine !
__ Last Cow, Vin de France 2019. Sold out. Darker wine it seems to me. he says that year yielded a more tannic wine. Mouth : nice overall, astringency again but well under control.
I tasted the Burgundy wines of Antoine Lienhardt a year ago, he was pouring the wines with Juliette Joblot in this january 2020 tasting and since then
their Domaine Antoine Lienhardt is high
on my wish list. The domaine applies biodynamic methods in the farming.
__ Gamayoptère, Coteaux Bourguignons 2019, grapes purchased in Fixin, north of the Côte de Nuits, they buy these grapes since 2007. It's wonderful to still be able to find Gamay in Burgundy, the variety was very common in the past but thye Appellation system made it a second-grade variety, meaning the wineries make less money out of it (like with the Appellation Coteaux Bourguignon used for Gamay-Pinot Noir blends). 13,8 € Pro. They only do négoce but only with these Gamay grapes.
__ Les Plantes aux Bois, Côte de Nuits Villages 2019. Lightly turbid. Very enjoyable, with the feel of a living wine !
__ Emphase, Côte de Nuits Villages 2019. Blend of 6 different parcels, old vines, aged 60 to 90 (estate grapes). I taste from a just-opened bottle. Nothing to say, no rough edge.
__ Nuits-Saint-Georges Village 2019. End of the bottle. Nice elegance in the mouth, promising wine, good investment I think. 27,5 € Pro.
__ Bourgogne Aligoté 2019, from a magnum. Vinified part in old demi-muids (500-600 liters), part in cement tanks. 12,8 % alc. Sold out. Balanced, nicely full mouthed. 10,8 € Pro.
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