Tagged with "Anjou"

Domaine de Rochelles is a family run estate based in Saint Jean des Mauvrets, about 10 minutes from Angers.

It’s a while since we were in Anjou so it was a pleasure to drop in on Antoine and Nathalie Leduc of Leduc-Frouin last week.

I’m always a bit mystified when people tell me they don’t like ‘sweet wine’. They eat dessert, they love chocolate, they adore ice cream.

Our furniture (that has been in storage since October) arrives on Monday. We can’t wait to get everything into place and start making it into a home after 4 months in our (lovely but temporary) home.

For us Brits, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without mince pies. Perceived as something rather strange by the French that doesn’t deter me!

Pithon Paillé’s former domaine will be called Domaine Bel Argus, named after the tiny rare blue butterfly that can be found among the vines of Les Treilles. 

It seems appropriate after my recent update on Jo and Isabelle Pithon’s domaine, to open a bottle of one of Jo’s beautiful sweet wines, Belargus des Treilles.

Harvest is in full swing here in the Loire and for the first time in three years we are seeing broad smiles on the faces of our partner growers as they bring in decent volumes of lovely looking grapes.

It’s so nice to see smiles on the faces of growers in the Loire this year. For the most part, everyone seems delighted with both the quantity and the quality that is coming in. 

We tasted a very interesting range of wines today at La Grange aux Belles in Soulaine sur Aubance about half an hour from us here at le tasting room

The weather has been dire over the past week with huge quantities of rain making vineyards practically inaccessible. This is worrying as the damp, humid conditions lead to mildew (downy and powdery) which requires treating on a regular basis, especially if you are working organically.

Pruning is a vital task during the vineyard year that controls yield and keeps vines manageable during the growing season.