Le Tasting Room

Why not join us for a day at le tasting room and share our love of Loire valley wines in the comfort of our old winemaker's home just a short stroll from the river.

• Make your way here for a 09h30 start with coffee and homemade biscuits.

• Enjoy a tutored tasting of 6 wines reflecting the diversity of this great winemaking region.  We'll run through the basics of tasting technique, discuss the geography of the region and unravel the mysteries of French wine labelling in the relaxed environment of our tasting room.

• You can then relax and enjoy a delicious home made 4 course lunch with wine in our old barrel maturation cellar beneath the house.  Indulge in a selection of dishes creatively prepared  using local ingredients sourced from our neighbouring potager, and herbs from our garden.

• In the afternoon we'll drive to one of the many famous appellations and visit one or two wineries where you'll have the opportunity to taste a range of wines, stroll around the vineyards and buy wine at cellar door prices.

• Return to Cumeray late afternoon for a glass of fizz in the garden.

Price: 100€ per head (2 - 6 people)

We can highly recommend a visit to Clos Cristal in Champigny as part of a Loire wine tour with le tasting room. This unique vineyard uses a system of walls through which the vines are planted - an unusual idea that was first put into practice by Antoine Cristal in 1886.  Not having a vinous heritage, (a wagon dealer and textiles merchant who made a fortune) he decided to climb the social ladder purchasing the chateau at Parnay and planting what became the famous clos des Murs next to the chateau and the clos Cristal in Champigny.  A firm Republican and free thinker he moved in high circles counting Jules Ferry (responsible for the introduction of free education for all in France) and Georges Clemenceau among friends.

On Christmas Eve 1928 he donated his vineyards to the hospital of Saumur.  Apparently not a philanthropic man, it was an unusual gesture and today the wine produced from the vineyards  still supports the local Hospices de Saumur. He died three years later in 1931.

In clos Cristal there are around 3 km of walls, vines are planted on the north side, poke through holes in the wall and then appear on the south side.  This means that the foliage not only benefits from being in a southerly position but also gains an extra degree or two of heat that is reflected from the walls themselves.  Those in any doubt of the effects can clearly see the advanced development of the vines,  well ahead of those planted elsewhere in the vineyard in the traditional manner.  We visited the domaine last week and those vines planted through the wall were already in flower.

Firstly, we tasted the 08 Clos Cristal which comes from the main vineyard.  This wine was given a much shorter maceration than normal to produce a wine light in tannins and approachable from a young age.  The 2007 vintage was a disaster when hail destroyed more than half the vineyard's production so Celine Dubois who looks after the vineyard with her husband made the 08 in a different style.   It's light and fruity with soft tannins and a delicate smoky nose, attractive and although it will benefit from a little ageing is certainly drinking well now.

We followed with the 2007 Les Murs which contains around 15% Cabernet Sauvignon.  Celine explained that the wine from the walls has a much greater intensity and concentration. The addition of Cabernet gives it a slightly firmer grip and complexity that adds another dimension.  It certainly has really ripe, sweet fruit on the nose and is a little more savoury on the palate.  This wine was denied Appellation Controlée status as it was deemed not to be representative of the appellation at tasting and so it is labelled Vin de Table - a little confusing for the consumer but nonetheless a good wine.

The 2005 vintage was hot and dry and the Les Murs wine was aged in old oak barrels for 10 months.  The wood is evident on the nose but's soft and and is more masculin in style than the 07.  Tannins are evident but do not dominate and we found touches of leather, smoke, tobacco, cinnamon and chocolate.

What is very interesting is the fact that in this small domaine, Celine is making three wines that are totally different in style.  Tasting them together is a very interesting exercise in the different expressions of Cabernet Franc.

We spent two full days at the Salon des Vins this year, held in the refurbished exhibition centre in Angers. A trade tasting, the Salon provides a platform for producers to show and discuss their wines from the current vintage and for potential wine buyers, journalists and critics to taste, renew acquaintances and make new contacts. Sparsely attended by the English, for us it’s a great opportunity to catch up with all the latest developments in our region and in particular those appellations a little further afield from us.

We spent a long time talking and tasting with Domaine de la Charrière from Jasnières, an appellation to the north of Tours and by many considered to be in the same fold as Savennières. Joel Gigou produces a range of wines including a rosé and several rather weird white pepper, strawberry fruit reds from the Pineau d’Aunis as well as some extraordinary wines from the Chenin Blanc grape. The Cuvée de Paradis 06 comes from 30 year old vines and has real gunflint and mineral character on the nose followed by a fresh zingy young palate. With bags of acidity, it’s not too dry and has reasonable length finished with a little tannin and grapefruit character at the end. By comparison, the Cuvée Clos St -Jacques 06 comes from 60-70 year old vines and has a much more intense complex nose with a mineral quality backed up with good spicy fruit, quite aromatic and a little musky with an earthy mineral finish. The Cuvée Clos St-Jacques 07 is more restrained on the nose but one can sense the mineral quality and some fruit coming through. It’s very full bodied on the palate and soft and long on the finish. With great concentration, it still showed a little tannin on the finish but was slightly less mineral and more feminine in style with 20g residual sugar on the palate. The Cuvée Clos  St-Jacques 2000 has a great if bizarre nose – loads of wax and lanolin, even a hint of  old floor polish with that oxidative quality that is often evident. These wines are truly a great expression of terroir and one can’t help but feel that people will either love or hate them. They are real food wines, age amazingly and are more than just a bit quirky. We finished by tasting the noble rotted 1997, produced from grapes picked from the Cuvée Clos St -Jacques vineyard if conditions favour the development of noble rot, before harvesting the unaffected grapes to produce the dry wine. This takes place at the end of October/early November. Lovely rich fruit with that unmistakable noble rot character; it has a candied quality yet backed up with that unmistakable minerality that is so Jasnières. The wines never undergo malo-lactic fermentation even when acid levels are really high as Joel Gigou believes it changes the character of wine and adds another dimension that detracts from the essence and identity of Jasnières.

This tiny appellation was one of the first decreed in 1937 and covers an area of just 65 ha exclusively producing white wines from the Chenin Blanc grape.  The reds and rosé that we tasted come under the appellation Coteaux du Loir which covers a greater surface area and encompasses the Jasnières appellation. A Loire wine tour to this region is certainly recommended to get a real understanding of these unusual wines.

Every year our local village Le Thoureil hosts a regatta where mariners sail upstream to join locals and visitors in a celebration of life on the river.  Old gabares and newer boats join together in what is a great day if the weather holds out.  Yesterday we were lucky - the sun shone, the band played, the wine flowed and the boats arrived. Here at le tasting room we welcomed clients from Russia and Paris for a tasting of Loire valley wines before walking down to the village together to participate in the day.  Volunteers cook lunch and trestle tables are set up by the old church - we enjoyed tabbouleh and piemontese salad followed by blanquette de porc, cheese and a slice of pear tarte all for 10€.  As we had been tasting wine during the morning, we took the opportunity to refresh our palates with a beer from La Piautre - a small micro-brewery just across the river at La Menitré.  The quality is excellent and this year they had produced plastic glasses for which they charged a 1€ deposit to encourage recycling.  What an excellent idea.

A selection of stalls provided extra entertainment with soaps from Marseille, locally made arts and crafts and the local fisherman demonstrating the art of making fishing nets.

These kinds of events are still commonplace in France and on occasions like this, it's a privilige to be a part of them and to have the opportunity to share our local life and community with our clients and visitors.

For more information on the day see www.letastingroom.blogspot.com