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I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Loire so low in the 11 years that we’ve lived here. It was pretty low in 2011 but I don’t think it’s been this low.

Anne made a first pass through the vineyard for the Clos de la Bergerie (one of the domaine’s sweet wines) on the 5th September and it came in with a potential of 17°.

Today, when I observe a wine and it isn’t strictly clear and bright I’m more likely to as myself a series of different questions.  Is this a natural wine? Is this an organic wine? Is this a wine that has not been fined or filtered?

Standing among the vines in the appellation of Bonnezeaux overlooking the beautiful landscape of Anjou, we had a fascinating insight into the work of the organic growers this week as we participated in 6th edition of La Paulée de l’Anjou Noir.

Subtle differences in top soil, bedrock, hydration and drainage, wind and rainfall all make themselves apparent in the different wines Arnaud Lambert makes.

Ok, so you’re staying in Angers in the Loire and you love wine and you think ‘right, it’s Sunday tomorrow, let’s go wine tasting’.

An article this morning that I reposted made me think that I would write a few words of my own about the growing number of ‘natural’ sparkling wines on the market today

Sadly I have to report that after an extraordinarily difficult year in 2016 due to frost, the Loire has yet again been hit hard in 2017.

We caught up with Xavier and Geraldine Cailleau at the Levée de la Loire a few weeks ago and tasted through their interesting range of wines. It’s always nice to have what I describe as ‘off-beat’ wines and Bois Brinçon has several little gems that are particularly interesting to the wine enthusiast.

Another estate that we are fond of and that makes good wines every year is Chateau de Villeneuve.

2016 turned out to be a very tricky year for them with miniscule yeilds of around 6hl/ha.

Antoine Leduc told us yesterday that while his volumes were a little less than normal, he was very happy with the quality of the grapes that he brought in at the end of the season.