Dubbed the “smiley vintage” by Loire courtiers Charles and Philippa Sydney, 2009’s hot and dry summer was far removed from the white knuckle rides of the preceding two years. Then, cool summers left grapes looking seriously “undercooked” until a dry, sunny September came to the rescue. On the other hand, in 2009, ripe and healthy grapes were more or less guaranteed, so there’s plentiful fruit and fine tannin in abundance.
Such 2009 reds as I tasted looked exceptionally promising but whites, especially Muscadet and Sauvignon Blanc, lacked a bit of zip. So vis a vis Central Vineyard appellations, Pinot Noirs are very promising indeed but it pays to pick and choose with Sauvignon Blanc, especially if you prefer a bit of bottle age over primary, youthful fruit.
I’ve set out my highlights from the Salon below (including previous vintages tasted). If you’d like to find out more about the 2009 vintage in the Loire, check out the Sydney’s vintage report here. My notes conclude with those Sauvignons I liked best from their portfolio, with notes of UK stockists where given.
Claude & Stephane Riffault Sancerre
Since I visited in 2008 (see my report here), Stephane has placed an even greater emphasis on site selection. In consequence, old vine cuvée Antique is no longer made.
The Sauvignons (2009 are samples)
Les Boucards 2009 (clay/limestone, 12% oak aged 8 months on lees) – very lifted on the nose with rich, ripe white peach on the palate.
Les Chasseignes 2009 (clay/limestone, stony limestone, 30% oak-aged 8 months on lees) – a spicy nose with plentiful rich but juicy fruit on the palate; a little warm (alcohol) on the finish.
Les Denisottes 2009 (deep clay/limestone, 35% oak-aged 9 months on lees) – fuller-bodied, with ripe white peach; real sucrosity and weight here.
Les Chailloux 2009 (silex, wood fermented and aged 7 months) – as you’d expect, silex/flint soils produce a tighter nose and more structured, mineral palate still, the ripeness comes across with an almost lime cordial edge to the fruit. Flinty, curry powder to the finish.
Les Desmalets 2009 (shallow clay/limestone, wood fermented and aged 10 months) – very forward, positively buxom Sancerre; lots of body and power.
The Pinot Noirs
Les Chailloux 2009 (silex, fermented and aged 12 months in 500l barrels) – fresh and vibrant fruit (black cherry/riper cherry stone); good length and persistence.
La Noue 2008 – (clay/limestone, fermented and aged 12 months in 228l, 500l and 600l barrels). A weighty red. At the moment, the nose is quite oaky but there’s more than enough red and black cherry fruit to carry it in the mouth plus the complexing, balancing cool tang of clay. The finish is long, with an attractive edge of tannin, liquorice and chocolate. Very good.
Francois Crochet, Sancerre
Sauvignon Blanc
White 2008 (predominantly chalky, stony soil) – very fresh, nettley, nose and palate with a fine intensity of ripe gooseberry; persistent, long and precise. Very good.
Les Amoureuses 2008 (limestone/clay) – picked later this is broader and deeper in flavour, with gooseberry, fresh pea pod, even a bit of aparagus; still good balancing freshness.
Le Chene Marchand 2008 (chalky stony soil) – a really lovely wine, fine, poised and precise with a citrus and minerals fuelled long finish.
Exils 2008 (flint) – a new cuvee, very lemony and lifted on the nose, with sweet, ripe lemons on the palate and a mineral, flinty undertow. A touch wild on the finish (oxidative note?), but great concentration.
White 2009 (tank sample) – lots of juicy ripe fruit with a grassy edge – too early to write a proper tasting note but this certainly reflects the ripe vintage.
Les Amoureuses 2009 (sample) – shows white peach and fruit salad, but it’s powerful in length as well as breadth, with a salty mineral quality to the finish.
Le Chene Marchand 2009 (sample) – very persistent, with ripe fruit, underlying minerality and a grassy edge. Very promising.
Exils 2009 – tight and flinty with floral/currypowder notes on nose and palate, this is very spicy in the mouth. It’s quite rich but retains but good structure, with striking minerality on the finish.
Pinot Noir
Red 2007 – lovely lifted fresh red fruits, nice definition on nose and palate. Very elegant and persistent, with a subtle edge of tannin.
Reserve de Marigoue 2008 (chalky stone, limestone/clay)– riper with black cherry, though having just been bottled it’s a little clenched, showing cooler, earthy/savoury clay – needs time but everything is there.
Red 2009 – this has a lovely sweetness while mainatining its freshness, with fine tannins and bright red cherry fruit. Tight,intense and very promising. The first vintage to be fermented in wooden vats.
Reserve de Marigoue 2009 (sample) – sweet, ripe, but still very tight, lots of sucrosity to the tannins, but not at the expense of structure or intensity. Very early days but promising.
Vacheron, Sancerre
Sauvignon Blanc
Classic (white) 2009 – lovely richness, with fruit salad and greener, juicier balancing gooseberry fruit. Very good.
Les Romains 2007 (silex) – very tightly structured and fabulously flinty in expression. A wonderfully pure and mineral expression of Sauvignon.
Les Romains 2008 (silex) – more fruit weight than the 2007, but still “tendu,” so great structure and poise.
Pinot Noir
Classic (red) 2007 – nice brightness/freshness to the fruit on nose and palate, if a tad austere, bringing some bony tannins to the fore. Needs time to flesh out.
Classic (red) 2008 – good aroma and freshness but much easier going with lovely sweet fruit and fine powdery tannins.
Belle Dame (red) 2006 – sweet oak on the nose but this is very closed in the mouth. Needs time.
Alphonse Mellot
(For detailed background information check out the website here)
Sauvignon Blanc
La Moussière 2009 (Kimmeridgien limestone – tank sample) – hail accounts for exceptionally low yields (18/19 hl/ha). This is very juicy with ripe sweet gooseberry fruit and a chalky edge to the finish. Good.
La Demoiselle 2008 (flinty clay) – the nose draws you in with its traces of wild honey and spicy/floral (curry powder); lovely length and complexity on the palate with a terrific long, wild honeyed finish.
Les Romains 2008 (Silex/Calcaire) – a rich, ripe wine with white peach, white chocolate and dried honey. Unusual.
Satellite 2008 (clay/limestone) – a powerful presence on nose and palate with a rush of vanilla bean-edged citrus, honey and minerals. Very impressive, complex wine.
Génération XIX 2008 (Kimmeridgian limestone) – very contrasting, “tendu” style, structured, grapefruity, long and fine, with honey traces to its linear finish.
Edmond 2008 (Kimmeridgian limestone) – very chalky, fresh, tight, persistent and long. Needs time to open up but very impressive now.
Chardonnay
Domaine Les Penitents Les Penitents Chardonnay Vin De Pays Des Coteaux Charitois Loire, 2007 – peachy but with good balancing acidity providing definition and freshness. Good.
Pinot Noir
Domaine Les Penitents Les Penitents Pinot Noir Vin De Pays Des Coteaux Charitois Loire, 2008 – lovely fleshy fresh picked red and black fruits with a fine edge of tannin; bigger than I remember. A very drinkable but classy Pinot.
La Moussière 2008 (Kimmeridgian limestone) – a high definition Pinot Noir, bright and vivid on nose and palate with a nice seam of tannins to its fine red fruits. Very good.
La Demoiselle 2008 (flinty clay) – very compressed, tight small berry fruit, almost painfully intense, making for a long, deep impression, even though the fruit has yet to unfurl. Heaps of promise. Very good.
En Grand Champs 2008 – wild fruit, baked cherries, wow, big tannins, firm but fabulous ripe fruit behind, wild fruit, so very lifted and sensual, needs time – 5 years plus. Lovely freshness.
Génération XIX 2009 (Kimmeridgian limestone) – a ripe core of fruit here, very fine tannins, very intense, beautiful fruit definition – lots of promise.
Chateau du Tracy Pouilly-Fumé
Chateau du Tracy Pouilly-Fumé 2007 – a trace of honey to an otherwise tight, flinty nose. In the mouth the honey is more pronounced, combining attractively with juicy blackcurrant.
Chateau du Tracy Pouilly-Fumé 2008 – a low yielding year (18hl/ha) with high tartaric acid, this is grassy, tight and mineral with a super-juicy palate. Youthful.
Chateau du Tracy Haute Densité (HD) Pouilly-Fumé 2005 – named after the extreme planting density (17,000 vines/ha) of the 10 year old (clay/limestone) vineyard from which this wine hails. The density stresses the vines which produce on average only 3 bunches each. This, the second vintage is subtly powerful; nice weight and concentration in the mouth without being weighty, it shows a seamless fusion of gently leafy/spicy blackcurrant bud with underlying stony mineral notes. Chateau du Tracy’s basic cuvée has a good track record for ageing. Comte Henry d’Assay reckons HD will age for 10-15 years. Around 12-15% of the wine is barrel fermented and aged for 1 year; in 2007 3000l foudres have been used and, in 2008, because the yield was only 10hl/ha, 500l barrels will be used.
Chateau du Tracy Haute Densité (HD) Pouilly-Fumé 2006 – with more concentrated, creamy ripe fruit, the 2006 is more expansive and immediately impressive. A great wine for sauced fish dishes. Very good.
Chateau du Tracy 101 Rangs Pouilly-Fumé 2008 – this new release, launched at the Salon, is extreme in that it is sourced from 101 rows of old vines planted solely on silex soils. It’s fabulously precise, smoky, tight and lemony with a steely core of minerals and, sitting a little proud right now, a veneer of vanilla oak (this wine is aged in 500l barrels, some new). Lots of potential.
Charles & Philippa Sydney tasting – my pick of the Central Vineyard Sauvignons
Daniel Crochet Sancerre 2009 – good thrust of lemony citrus fruit, nice zip, length and poise (Averys, Edward Parker)
Domaine Tinel-Blondelet Pouilly-Fumé L’Arret Buffate 2009 – mineral, subtle wine with good persistence and line.
Alain Caillbourdin Pouilly-Fumé Cuvee du Boisfleury 2009 – a lifted, pretty nose, with good fruit but nice freshness and delicacy. Well done. The Wine Society. Great Western Wine.
Alain Caillbourdin Pouilly-Fumé Les Cris 2009 – rich and concentrated with a good body of citrus fruit. Great Western Wine.
Domaine Laporte Les Grandmontains 2009 - a little reduced (screwcap), but with lively, lemony fruit coarsing beneath; tight, grassy and concentrated.
Domaine Henri Borgeois Sancerre La Grande Réserve 2009 – fresh, aromatic and lively with nice line – classic.
Vincent Pinard Cuvée Florès 2009 – tight lemony and rich; good. Great Western Wine, Handford, Justerini & Brooks, Nicholsons
Vincent Pinard Sancerre Cuvée Harmonie 2008 – lemony with smoky, oaky fruit, good structure, depth and poise. Great Western Wine, Justerini & Brooks
Sarah Ahmed
The Wine Detective
(Wines tasted 1 & 2 February 2010)
