Anjou tasting and dinner: 19th October

Notes from the tasting:

Aperitif
2008 Anjou Blanc Sec Domaine Ogereau, Vincent Ogereau £8.25
Made from 70% Chenin and 30% Chardonnay, this is the least convincing wine in the normally exemplary Ogereau portfolio. Not that it is badly made, it is just that a Chenin/Chardonnay blend works tends to work better as sparkling rather than still. I fancy that this would be a more successful wine if it was pure Chenin.

Whites:
2007 Château de la Roulerie Chenin Sec, Anjou Blanc Philippe Germain 2004 £10.75
Savennières Clos le Grand Beaupréau Vincent Ogereau n/a
1991 Anjou Blanc Sec Chauvigné Didier Richou n/a
replaced by:
2005 Les Rogeries, Anjou Blanc Sec, Domaine Richou

Served with roast skate wing, cod brandade, crab bisque

Philippe Germain's 2007 Anjou Blanc was the preferred wine in this series both by itself and with the skate wing as its clean mineral character, typical of 2007, showed well. I should probably give Thierry Germain, Philippe's elder brother, the credit for this wine as he is the winemaker. I thought Vincent's Savennières showed well with considerable complexity. Both wines illustrate that Loire whites are often as good from difficult vintages as they are from hotter, more acclaimed years.

1991 Chauvigné, Domaine Richou

Unfortunately the 1991 Chauvigné was completely stuffed – oxidised. It would have been fascinating to taste this as 1991 is now very rare because a single April frost reduced the overall crop to a third of normal. It was swiftly replaced by the 2005 Les Rogeries, which perhaps needed time to open up. On this occasion the 2005 was rather dumb – very much in contrast to the 2004 which I drank in May, which was then sensational – rich, complex and balanced with clean acidity.

1997 Anjou Gamay, Château Pierre-Bise – sadly corked

Reds:
2007 Gamay, Anjou Gamay, Château Pierre-Bise
Replaced the 1997 Gamay, Anjou Gamay Château Pierre-Bise, which was unfortunately corked.
2007 La Croix de Mission, Domaine des Rochelles, Jean-Yves and Anita Lebreton
2006 Anjou Villages Vincent Ogereau 2005 Les Jeunes Vignes des Gelinettes, La Ferme de la Sansonnière, Mark Angeli

Served with: Roast saddle of English lamb, French beans, Chantenay carrots, fricassée of wild mushrooms, new potatoes

2007 La Croix de Mission, Anjou-Villages Brissac, JYA Lebreton

This was a very interesting range of reds unfortunately again disrupted because of a problematic bottle – this time the cork. Possibly, of course, that the oxidation of 1991 Richou was due to a faulty cork but difficult to establish. The 2007 Papin Gamay was attractive on its own – soft red fruits and quite marked acidity but without sufficient concentration to partner the lamb. Had the 1997 not been corked I think this would have fared better with the lamb.

I thought the 2007 La Croix de Mission was showing extremely well – not a heavyweight but good ripe red and black fruits and well balanced. Yet another example of how having a good site in a difficult year can make all the difference, especially where Cabernet Sauvignon is concerned in Anjou. The concentrated and powerful 2006 Anjou Villages Domaine Ogereau was the favoured wine in this series, although less clear cut than the white trio. Ideally the 2006 need another couple of years or so to further soften up. Drink the 2007s while you wait.

Mark Angeli's 2005 Gelinettes is certainly a petit bête – almost opaque, very concentrated, quite toasty and very tannic. It needs a lot of time and I have to wonder whether Mark didn't push the extraction too far or may be it just needs time. If I didn't know mark reasonably well I might accuse him of making a wine to attract the attention of a certain US wine critic but I'm sure that wasn't in his mind. To be fair to Mark his 2005 showed much better with the lamb.

Sweet:
2008 Coteaux du Layon Rochefort Château Pierre-Bise, Claude Papin
Served with: pear and almond tart with saffron ice cream

2008 is a difficult or perhaps unfulfilled sweet wine vintage in that everything was looking promising until the end of October and then frequent rain took over in November. Wines from grapes picked early have a lot of charm and purity but they don't have the complexity or concentration of a good Layon vintage. Enjoy them as an aperitif or with a variety of rich dishes but not with dessert. Also drink them young. 2007 in contrast is a lovely sweet wine vintage. There are wines here that really will go the distance.

Chef's recommendations and recipes: 21st October

Head chef Alex Lovett recommends from the à la carte menu:

Tagliatelle with cèpes and chanterelles, rocket, shaved Parmesan

Autumn is the season for mushrooms and this dish shows them off at their best, especially if you use wild mushrooms. I normally use a mix of cèpes and chanterelles but you could substitute a number of different mushrooms instead. In fact when preparing this dish I used pieds de mouton on this occasion rather than chanterelles.

Recipe: portions for one serving

Ingredients:
Mushrooms (cèpes, chanterelles or others): handful
Chopped shallots – pinch of
Parmesan velouté – see recipe here
Chopped parsley – good pinch
Lemon juice
Tagliatelle
Rocket leaves dressed in olive oil
Parmesan

Frying the mushrooms

Method:
Sauté mushrooms in olive oil over a high heat until they colour
Add three to four tablespoons of Parmesan velouté and bring to boil
Add good pinch of parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice
Add cooked tagliatelle to pan and mix to integrate the sauce and the pasta. Check seasoning

Bringing Parmesan sauce and mushrooms to boil

Place tagliatelle and sauce on a plate. Garnish with a handful of rocket leaves tossed in olive oil and decorate with three or four shavings of Parmesan.

Plating up

Shaving the Parmesan

http://rsj-news.blogspot.com/2009/09/black-pepper-gnocchi-recipe-from.html

••

Alex@work

and from the fixed price menu:

Slow roast belly of Suffolk pork, broccoli, sweet onions, new potatoes, anchovy and walnut sauce

(to finish)

More scenes from the RSJ

Gaetano behind the bar

Mus checks the wine

Anjou tasting and dinner tonight

Autumn view across the Layon towards Beaulieu

Here is a list of the wines to be tasted tonight:

Aperitif
2008 Anjou Blanc Sec Vincent Ogereau

Whites:
2007 Château de la Roulerie Chenin Sec Philippe Germain

2004 Savennières Clos le Grand Beaupréau Vincent Ogereau

1991 Anjou Blanc Sec Chavigné Didier Richou

Served with Roast skate wing, cod brandade, crab bisque


Reds:
2007 Gamay, Anjou Gamay, Château Pierre-Bise
Replaces the 1997 Gamay, Anjou Gamay Château Pierre-Bise, which was unfortunately corked.

2007 La Croix de Mission, Domaine des Rochelles, Jean-Yves and Anita Lebreton

2006 Anjou Villages Vincent Ogereau

2005 Les Jeunes Vignes des Gelinettes, La Ferme de la Sansonnière, Marc Angeli

Served with: Roast saddle of English lamb, French beans, Chantenay carrots, fricassée of wild mushrooms, new potatoes


Sweet:
2008 Coteaux du Layon Rochefort Château Pierre-Bise, Claude Papin
Served with: pear and almond tart with saffron ice cream

Developing noble rot@Domaine de Bablut

Botrytis developing: some rains dorée and pourri plein (purple grapes). Skins are very thin and fragile at this stage

Christophe Daviau looking at his Chenin in the Grandpierre vineyard

Spent a fascinating morning with Christophe Daviau (Domaine de Bablut) looking at his Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc that is yet to be picked.

We started with in Chenin in his vineyard called Grandpierre that produces a very characterful and mineral sweet wine – a favourite of mine. Christophe has already done a tri here. Not enough of the bunches are ready for a second tri, although they might be ready for Monday if rain is still threatened for Tuesday. Once the botrytis gets established, it can develop very quickly given the right conditions.

Christophe explaining Chenin Blanc and the stages of botrytis developing

Bit further along plus some sundried berries

Well spread out bunches allowing the air to circulate around them (above and below)


Still needs a little more time to the botrytis to develop and the sugars to concentrate

A bunch of Chenin Blanc tends to have big variations of maturity – here some golden grapes others becoming shrivelled and raisin like.

Harvest reports: Château de Villeneuve, Domaine Ogereau and Domaine de Bablut

9th October 2009

The church at Souzay-Champigny and Château de Villeneuve

Florence Chevallier, Château de Villeneuve, Saumur-Champigny

"We are well advanced now and I expect that we will finish on Tuesday. We started on Wednesday 30th September with the white – the Chenin was magnificent – and the Cabernet Franc on Friday 1st October. The Ban des Vendanges was for Monday 5th October but as our degrees were already high we were able to start early. Both the Cabernet and Chenin are between 13%-13.5%.

As the weather forecast was uncertain at the beginning of this week we decided there was no point in waiting, so we harvested quickly with a big group of 35 pickers. Normally we do two tris (selective pickings) with the Chenin but the grapes were so good that we picked everything in one go. Had we done a tri then the degrees in the second picking would have gone too high."

•

Vincent Ogereau, Domaine Ogereau, Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay

Vincent and Catherine Ogereau

I was delighted to learn that Vincent has now made a full recovery from his operation in May.

Vincent: "Our Chenin is really good – golden yellow. Last week we did a tri for the Layon and the grapes came in a 20% potential. The juice has very pure fruit flavours. This week I have been worried by the tropical conditions we have had – warm and humid – bringing the danger of rot developing in the Cabernet Franc. We picked for the Anjou Rouge yesterday – 12.8% potential and 4.4g acidity. it should be quite soft. Then we'll start the Cabernet Franc for the Anjou Villages on Monday. I'm out every midday in the vines tasting the grapes and the ripeness is now starting to change very quickly with the acidity dropping. We need to get on picking now – it is too risky to wait.

We've picked some Cabernet Sauvignon to make rosé, which should be superb, but I'm not sure whether the Cabernet Sauvignon will get ripe enough, so that we can make red with it. At the moment the tannins are not ripe. The very dry weather we have had since the beginning of June has slowed down the ripeness. We have a small yield for the Cabernet this year."

•

Christophe Daviau

Christophe Daviau, Domaine de Bablut, Brissac-Quincé
"I think my Cabernet Sauvignon may well be riper than my Cabernet Franc. We've picked for the Anjou Rouge, which will have short time macerating on the skins so that it is soft and easy to drink. The Cabernet Franc on the limestone (AV Petra Alba) could potentially be very good, so I'm going to leave that for a while. For the Chenin we've finished the sec for Petit Prince and Ordovicien. The juice is 'super-beau' and very aromatic. We've also done a tri for the Coteaux de l'Aubance, which was at 19%-20% potential.

I'm a little bit disappointed by the yield but that's due to the dry weather, although the small amount of rain we've had in September and October has plumped the grapes up a bit. "

New menus: fixed and à la carte

Maggie is excited by the new menus!

Both the fixed price and à la carte menus have changed. Click here for details of the fixed and here for à la carte. Notice that the RSJ continues to be optmistic about summer continuing well into October. The à carte menu is also available at lunchtime.