Once again, we all gathered for another blind tasting session. This time: Reds from the Loire ! We were all excited but somehow the wines were a let down...Blame it on a root day!
The wines were served by appelation, blind.
CHINON
2002 Domaine Les Chesnaies (Beatrice & Pascal Lambert) Cuvée Marie
• 55-70 year old vines
• Clay and gravel terrases and silico-clay coteaux
• 30 to 40 days maceration
• Elevage in piece (1/3 new)
• 4 to 6 months in tanks then
Almost opaque, dark cherry core and bright purple rim. Smoky, cold ashtray nose, hint of bell pepper. You can also sense the elevage but this mellow down with air. Med body, round with supple tannins that still needs a few more years, good structure, some nice cherry notes along some ripe raspberry.
Interesting finish on violets. This wine needs a few more years to gain in complexity and it certainly has a good enough structure and acidity to do it.
2005 Domaine Les Chesnaies (Beatrice & Pascal Lambert) Cuvée Danae
• 10-20 year old vines
• Calcareous clay (Millarge and Tuffeau)
• 30 to 40 days maceration
• 12 months in 500l barrels, 1/3 new
• Then 5 to 6 months in tanks
Overoaked, heavy. Are we really in Chinon?!
2005 Domaine Les Chesnaies (Beatrice & Pascal Lambert) Cuvée Marie
• 55-70 year old vines
• Clay and gravel terrases and silico-clay coteaux
• 30 to 40 days maceration
• Elevage in piece (1/3 new)
• 4 to 6 months in tanks then
Just as the 2002, very dark cherry core. Eggplant, floral and cold tobacco, slightly jammy fruits in the background.
Med to full body, rather low acidity, some oak on the palate with again those tobacco, inky notes, blackberry.
A little modern.
2005 Domaine de la Noblaie "Les Chiens-Chien"
• 40- to 80-year-old vines
• Limestone and clay above
• Aged 12 months in 2 and 3 year old barrels
• For export only
Bright fruit on the nose, a little barnyard on the nose with a hint of chocolate. Dark ruby, grippy tannins, med body, a little modern and polished, I found this wine a little heavy on the palate and boring.
Disappointing.
2002 Olga Raffault Les Picasses
• Limestone
• 25 to 30 days maceration
• Elevage in 4000l to 5000l fut
Beautiful and elegant nose. Cassis leaf, violets with some red fruits. Balanced, med body with high acidity, nice violet on the palate. The finish is slightly green.
Austere but a pleasure to drink.
1996 Pierre Jacques Druet, Clos de Danzay
• Mix of young and old vines (100 year old)
• 18 to 24 months in barrels
• côteau clay-silico-limestone
Corked!
2006 Bernard Baudry, Les Granges
• Gravel and sand
• Vines planted in 1985-88
• 7 months in tanks
Barnyard on the nose, a touch of licorice (even though there's no oak), leather. Darker fruits on the palate than on the nose.
Not as good as the previous bottle.
BOURGUEIL
2007 Domaine de la Chanteleuserie Bourgueil Cuvée Alouettes
• stainless steel,
• Silico-clay soil
Candied juicy red fruits on the nose, almost beaujolais like. A little enjoyable funk.
Grenadine, cranberry, balanced, a little more weight on the palate than the nose would suggest. Easy to drink but not very complex.
Nice little wine from sandy-clay soil.
2006 Domaine de la Butte, Le Haut de la Butte
• Limestone with silex
• 10 year old vines
• 25 hl/ha
• No cultures yeast, no chaptalisation
• Elevage in 6000l wooden cuve for 1/3 then the rest in 2 and 3 year old barrels.
Nice complex nose with a slightly smoky gravelly nose and minerality, fraise des bois and red berries (raspberry and cranberry) along some cassis. A little barnyardy at first, med body, med+ acidity, balanced with smooth tannins.
Easy and immensely pleasurable to drink.
SAUMUR CHAMPIGNY
2003 Clos Rougeard, Les Poyeux
• biodynamic
• 45 year old vines
• Mostly sandy soil
• Raised in 1 year old barrels
Very disappointing showing. The first few sips were really good with a very elegant and complex nose and with an amazing silky texture. But after 10mn, oak (??) started to be overwhelming (only one year old barrels are used, no new) and the wine didn't show any depth, or at least what you could expect from Clos Rougeard.
Go figure what happened here.
PIRATE WINE
2003 Reverie cabernet Franc, Diamond Mountain
This was the pirate in our Loire tasting and boy, everybody knew immediately this was not from the Loire.
Spices, cranberry and raisins, some oak. Full body, almost creamy in texture, low acidity, plummy with blackberry, coffee and vanilla.
I would summarize this wine in one word: BORING.
Finished in the sink. Yuk !
Overall a fun tasting with a lot of wines and surprises. My 1st experience with Domaine Les Chesnaies and I'm not sure what to think. Maybe a touch overdone for my taste. I need to revisit.
A poor showing for my Clos Rougeard..Oh well it happens ! That's the beauty of wine.
It was interesting to see how the winemaker touch is very important here. Even though some common characteristics were showing for each appelation, l'empreinte du vigneron was very obvious.
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