Home > Wine Features > Report from the 2009 Salon des Vins de Loire

Report from the 2009 Salon des Vins de Loire

The annual Salon des Vins de Loire is a three-day event, and as I write this it is just an hour or so until the final day of the 2009 Salon opens. I have spent the last few days in Angers, to attend the Salon and also the Renaissance tasting, which I have already mentioned in my write up of the 1990 Bollinger Grande Année which I drank at the weekend.

I arrived here in Angers on Saturday and after taking some lunch in a café in the centre of the town I took a walk, without any real destination in mind. Only five minutes later I chanced upon the ancient chateau which was once the very heart of Angers, and this serendipitous discovery brought back a few memories; it is almost sixteen years since I last looked upon its walls. First and foremost I was struck by its huge scale; I had forgotten just how high the many towers of this giant citadel tower above the streets below. Loire chateaux are broadly speaking either ancient, or perhaps Medieval would be a more appropriate description, such as that at Chinon, or elegant Renaissance estates, such as Chambord or Azay-le-Rideau. Or occasionally both, such as Villandry, which has one section resembling a castellated keep, and another with an elegant, sloping tiled roof. Angers is most certainly ancient, the gigantic walls designed to protect the property within during feudal times. Unfortunately said property has not been sufficiently protected from more modern threats, it seems, as evidenced by recent events; a fire has gutted one section of the interior property, leaving the charred roof timbers exposed to the elements (as shown above). One piece of good news concerns the surviving pieces of the Apocalypse Tapestries, which are housed within the chateau (and which are well worth viewing). These were, I believe, undamaged.

Anyway, onto the wine. The next day, Sunday, there was a tasting held by the Association Renaissance des Appellations, a group (as I have already explained earlier this week) of 152 domaines and winemakers from across the world who all adhere to a set of philosophies on sustainable viticulture and winemaking, and who submit their wines to a tasting committee headed up by Olivier Humbrecht, Anne Claude Leflaive, Nicolas Joly and others. It was an excellent beginning to my trip; the event was naturally strong on the Loire, but also present were numerous viticulteurs from further afield. It was a bit of a scrum at times, as the event is open to all with just a €4 entry fee, but nevertheless it was still a worthwhile tasting. I particularly enjoyed lining my stomach with pommes de terre au lard, which was available within the tasting, for the princely sum of €5.50. A hearty mix of potatoes and lardons, this simple dish fortified me sufficiently to continue with the wines until 4pm. Expect reports here on Domaine de Bellivière, Pierre Breton, Patrick Baudoin, Philippe Delesvaux and about half a dozen others.

Then onto the Salon proper, which afforded me two and a half days (the half day being today, before I begin my return journey) of tasting. On the morning of the first day, however, before making it into the Salon, I kicked off with a tasting of the Charles Sydney portfolio. Held in a hotel opposite the Salon, which is in Angers' Parc Expo, this gave a good overview of recent vintages, running across many of the Loire's appellations, from Muscadet up to Sancerre. Expect a report on these wines soon. And then into the Salon, where I was presented with a gigantic hall temporarily occupied by the great, the good and the not-so-good of the Loire's vignerons. What a delight; expect updates to many of my pre-existing profiles such as those for Vacheron, Alphonse Mellot, Huet, Pierre-Bise, and the very recently published profile of Chateau de Villeneuve, as well as a number of brand new profiles, such as for Domaine de Montgilet. This estate is home to Vincent and Victor Lebreton and they are a leading source of good quality Coteau de l'Aubance wines, but they also make rather pretty examples of Anjou and Anjou-Villages-Brissac, and they were hiding - alongside a number of other Anjou estates - under the Brissac balloon, above.

Recent Vintages

Vintage generalisations are inherently flawed, in that they always paint a picture with the broadest possible brush, and when buying, tasting or drinking wine it is always, stating the obvious, the wine in the glass, not the vintage printed on the label, which will entertain us. Nevertheless I will make a few suitably qualified statements. First, 2008 looks like a good vintage in many places, with some specific wines coming to mind. Up in the central vineyards, Sancerres from Alphonse Mellot, Vacheron and some others look very fresh and precise. Downstream in Vouvray my sampling has been less broad, but at Huet there have been some stunning successes, with an incredible amount of minerality in the wines, which are vibrant and precise. The demi-sec wines were fabulous, and the sweet moelleux and moelleux première trie wines were also excellent. This was perhaps surprising considering the weather this Touraine town experienced during 2008; at one point a storm settled over Vouvray, letting rip with a torrential downpour. Roads turned to rivers, properties and vineyards were flooded, the tarmac was torn from some roads, and trees were uprooted. Perhaps the fact that this was in May, very early on in the vintage, was what saved the day. Hopefully I will taste some more examples, including more from François Chidaine in particular (I have already tasted some at the Renaissance event), later today, to see if this remarkable quality is repeated elsewhere. Down in Anjou and Saumur there was plenty of promise in the red wines I tasted, some being quite deep in colour and substance. The Muscadets are also good, although the quantities are tiny, with many viticulteurs bringing in less than 20 hl/ha; this is not a good way to make a living. No wonder Guy Bossard of Domaine de l'Ecu has decided - in the absence of an heir - to sell up now.

As for 2007, this was a more difficult vintage all round. I spent some time in the Loire during the summer months. In just a few weeks I saw not only a prolonged downpour so heavy that I could not see enough to continue driving, but within a few days I was being stung by hailstones...in June. These climactic conditions come through in the quality of some of the wines, most notably the reds, and also the decisions of the more conscientious vignerons. Many reds show stretched out fruit on the nose, with a burnt, sweet-confected character rather than the ripe freshness I would prefer, and on the palate oily textures and dilute flavours. But you cannot generalise, not with the vineyards of France's longest river; transposing the conditions endured by the vineyards of Anjou onto Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé, for instance, is akin to transposing those of Bordeaux onto Burgundy. There are some attractive Sauvignons from upstream vineyards, and there are good sec Vouvrays as well. Bernard Baudry made some lovely wines in 2007, including his red wines, although the intensity and richness of some other recent vintages is not there. Around Anjou and Saumur, Jean-Philippe Chevallier merged all his red wines into one, temporarily suspending production of his Vieilles Vignes and Grand Clos cuvées, a sure sign of the vintage's weakness. For Muscadet, however, there were no such problems.

I will be making more specific reports over the coming months, on all this but also on other Loire developments, such as the birth of Domaine FL, from the fusion of Domaine Jo Pithon and Chateau de Chamboureau, and on the Pithon family's new venture, as they start over at Domaine Pithon-Paillé. If I work hard I might just have it all online before the beginning of next year's Salon. (4/2/09)