Loire Valley (Part One) – Winter 2019

Our tasting took place at Vignerons Oisly & Thesee, a cooperative holding 500 acres of mostly Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc in the small towns of Oisly and Thesee which usually are considered the best in the Touraine region. You know by now how we feel about cooperatives – That when managed strategically they can turn out plenty of individual, engaging wines. Loire Propriétés is one such cooperative, and actually what you’d call a “supercooperative” (ie a large parent cooperative made up multiple smaller cooperatives). 250 winegrower members, organized into 10 smaller cooperatives, make up the group, many of who are bottling estate grown wines, some from iconic Loire chateaux! Sound interesting? Estate grown wines at a cooperative? Yes! As we’ve said before there are some progressive co-ops out there these days urging you to rethink everything you think you know about the category.

Caves de la Loire “Les Anges” 18 Sauvignon Blanc, juicy, very good

Les Anges 18 Chardonnay, boring, but full and fruity, would make people happy though

Caves de la Loire “Les Anges” 18 Chenin Blanc, crisp, more acidity

Caves de la Loire “Les Anges” 17 Pinot Noir, good, a little short on character, but what do you expect for pricing this sharp

Caves de la Loire “Les Anges” 18 Cabernet Franc, dry, aromatic, a little funky

Caves de la Loire “Elysis” 18 Rosé d’Anjou, fresh, nice sweetness

Vignerons du Pallet “Les Petites Sardines” 17 Muscadet Sevre et Maine Sur Lie, easy, soft style

Vignerons du Pallet “Jubilation” 15 Muscadet Cru Le Pallet, complex, class

O&T 17 Touraine Sauvignon Blanc,  showing well, good acidity

Domaine du Grand Cerf 17 Touraine Sauvignon Blanc, typical, full, juicy

Vins de Rabelais “Les Romances” 17 Vouvray, seems sweetish, but technically isn’t, apparently

Vins de Rabelais 15 Chinon “Fauteuil Rouge,” mature and rich, There is better value than this at LP

Les Roches Blanches 17  Vouvray full, typical, fresh

Chateau de Valmer 17 Vouvray, character, aromatic

Chateau de Brossay 18 Cabernet d’Anjou, flavor, full, some sweetness

Domane Croix St. Louis 15 Chinon, somewhat mature and boring

Chateau de Mauny 18 Rosé de Loire, some complexity and depth

Chateau de Mauny Crémant de Loire Brutt, fresh, soft, very good

Chateau de Brissac 14 Crémant de Loire Brut, fine, balanced, soft

Domaine Touchais NV Saumur Brut, serious, dry and fuill

Chateau de Valmer NV Vouvray Brut, rich, full, long, bravo

Very good tasting overall. great stuff at very competitive prices. We pulled the trigger on  Chateau de Mauny, Chateau de Valmer, and Vignerons du Pallet (including the very fine bottle aged “Jubilation” Cuvee).  Does the whole Vignerons du Pallet thing perk your ears? This is a fairly small, atypical coop of 10 members, all from Le Pallet in the heart of Muscadet. They have 250 acres and an average production of some 800.000 bottles. All 10 members have their own properties, they bottle and sell a part of their production themselves and another part goes to the coop for use in a larger appellation “blend.” The President is one of the owners and so is the winemaker. The facilities are at one member’s winery. “Le Pallet” the vineyard is one of the Crus of Muscadet, there are seven crus in all, and is considered by many as the best. The soil is interesting, the northwest part of the town consists of light colored rocks (Roches Blanches) mixed with sand and the southwest area is dark colored (Roches Noires) and sand. Their “Jubilation” bottling referenced above represents a new movement in the appellation towards intense, bottle aged Muscadet with better selection, later harvesting, and longer aging on the lees. These wines are very different, more serious, fuller and real aging potential. For some stupid reason wines in this category cannot be called “sur lie” although they stay much longer on them. Odd.

This Domaine is a few kilometers down the road from Les Vignerons Oisly & Thesee and the idea here is to bring you a premium Touraine Sauvignon option – Something a step up in price and complexity from O+T for the select few accounts smart enough to know how much value Christophe Godet can pack into a bottle. So many accounts are glass pouring “Vin de Loire” Sauvignon Blanc as a Sancerre alternative but this approach (something from an individualistic appellation) is a better way to go. In all this is an 80 acre estate, mostly planted to Touraine Sauvignon Blanc. A part of 12 acres has been classified as Oisly which is a new “Cru” similar to Reuilly, Quincy, or Sancerre. Farming at Domaine Marcé is organic, and most vines are pretty damn old. More tank tasting “reality television” for you below!