A vat of red Caberent Franc for the 'Chateau' cuvee

Today was a day of tasting at Chateau de Chaintres of the cuvees from the 2011 harvest. First up was the tasting of the first fermentation of the Blanc de Noir Cremant de Loire. Compared with the negotiant wines of the big Saumur wine houses this first wine was truely a fruity sample of what may become a flavoursome sparkler. Not your horrible bland tasteless fizzy from those wine houses of Saumur. Judging from previous vintages this will be a real cracker. This sparkler will not be available until 2013. The next stage is the bottling with the liqueur of sugar syrup of 3 grams which will produce a dry white sparkler from Richard Desouche’s unusual wine made from the grape of the Saumur Champigny appellation Cabernet Franc. This will be laid down in the cellars for 18 months to develop and complete its transformation into a bubbly that will outshine anything on offer from even champagne.

Our current blanc de noir from Chaintres should be evidence of what to expect. Have a look on our website. www.gfwine.co.uk.  Cheers.

barrels used to ferment the chenin blanc grapes for the oaked 'Oratorien' cuvee

The vines at Domaine de L'Enchantoir

We will be embarking as I said yesterday on our visit around the domaines of our winemakers. Richard Desouche at Chaintres has called today and we will be visiting him to taste the progress of the 2011 vintage of his cuvees in the vats. It will be good to see where we are with the progress of the vinification and the comparison with previous vintages.

We will be tasting at Domaine de L’Enchantoir. Pierre and Brigitte Van Dem Boom make the classic Saumur rouge and blanc sec as well as the appellation of Saumur Puy Notre Dame which was created in 2009 and the first vintage was 2007. Pierre will be vinifying separate cuvees for his parcels of Saumur and Puy Notre Dame. Last year we were able to taste both 2009 vintages together to see how they developed. It is quite extraordinary that two cuvees of the same grape Cabernet Franc, picked the same way at similar maturity but grown in different parcels can taste so different. The Saumur cuvee comes from a different parcel of overlying flood plain silts on deeper limestone. Last year this produced a fruity but structured wine of immense flavours of fresh blackcurrants and cherries. The wine benefited from its long ageing in the vat to help develop the more structured wine. The Puy Notre Dame comes from just a limestone bedrock with very little topsoil so all mineral notes and the fruit comes in as a deeper and richer compote of prunes. The wine is so much more complex. Pierre managed to produce a sublime vintage which won him many pludits and prizes from local fairs as well as the top awards in Paris.

Lets hope the 2011 vintage is as good as the 2009 and 2010. Cheers.

The Chateau of Chaintres

Its time to pop over to France to sample the 2011 vintage to see how the vinification process is coming along. We will be visiting Chateau de Chaintres, Domaine de L’Enchantoir, and Domaine de la Saugourde.

Chaintres will also have its latest Cemant de Loire vintage to taste so that will be interesting. Its made unusually from Caberner Franc grapes which are pressed very quickly after harvesting to maintain the white juice. The finished wine should be fresh and fruity. Also the various vats of the cabernet franc grapes for the Saumur Champigny appellation which Richard will have vinified  separately from the three specific areas of the vinyard within the ‘clos’ (the walled vineyard). The top section of parcels with the sandy soils and sunny outlook and younger vines will be used to make the base cuvee of ‘Domaine’. The middle parcels of vines will be vinified in a number of vats and these with heavier soils and underlying limestone will be blended in due course to make his middle range red Saumur Champigny cuvee called ‘Chateau’ and finally at the bottom of the slopes where the souls are heavier with clay and the vines are very old Richard will separately vinify the grapes for the ‘Oratorien’ which is the top of the range wine. This is fermented in stainless steel vats and then aged in old bordeaux barrels in the cellars for up to 24 months.

I’ll let you know all about the tasting later in the week or next week. I’ll  discuss the Enchantoir and Saugourde wines later. We will also be visiting Chateau de Brossay whilst we are here so will give you an update on Hubert’s wines.

In the meantime the wines from all these domaines are on our website at great offers so that we can make way for the new vintages. Why not take a look . Cheers.

The crossroads between Saumur and Chinon at Montsereau

Wow what a turn out. We had a shop full of thirsty wine tasters all raring to go!  We sold getting on towards 100 bottles of wine. The most popular of our wines was the Chateau de Brossay sparkling red Le Cerisier, followed by the reds of Saugourde and Enchantoir and the Pink of Domaine de Rocheville.

They are all available on our website www.gfwine.co.uk. Why not try some. We currently have some great offers. Cheers.

Pondering the timing of the harvest

We are all geared up for a busy evening ahead of us at the Hub coffee shop in Sandgate for our wine tasting event. All will be revealed tomorrow and we will be letting you know how we got on. In addition to our normal wines we are also selling some bin ends to make ready for our new vintage.

Ah the beautiful Loire. What are you missing

                                                                                   PRICES

                                          Full Price       Web offer  Case of six   Saving                     Anjou Blanc AOC 

Domaine de la Saugourde        £8.99           £7.99         £38.94         £15.00

A lovely dry crisp white wine made from chardonnay and chenin grapes. Great with fish like salmon, cheese and chicken. Serve between 8-10°C

Anjou Rouge AOC

Domaine de la Saugourde        £8.99           £7.99        £38.94         £15.00

A fruity light red wine made from cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc grapes. Drink with roast chicken, turkey or with pork. Serve lightly chilled and open before serving .                 

Sainsburys equivalent price for a Chinon aoc £6.79

Saumur Champigny

AOC Chateau de Chaintres     £15.42           £13.99      £56.94         £35.58

A structured red wine with a rounded mouth made from cabernet franc grapes. A good accompaniment for roast beef and other red meats. Serve at room temperature and open an hour before serving.

 Cabernet de Saumur AOC

Domaine Rocheville                   £10.99          £9.49         £35.94        £30.00

A dry pink wine with hints of peach and apricots made from the Cabernet franc grape. Serve with salads or just drink on its own. Serve chilled between 7-8°C.

Cabernet D’Anjou AOC

Domaine L’Enchantoir            £11.48              £9.99       £38.94         £29.94

A medium pink wine with loads of fruity flavours made from the cabernet franc grape. Good with a hot curry and spicy dishes.  Serve chilled at 8-10°C

Saumur Brut AOC

Domaine de la Saugourde        £13.99        £11.99         £53.94        £30.00

A zingy dry sparkling white wine with loads of bubbles made from the chardonnay and chenin grapes. Ideal as an aperitif, or try with an ice cream dessert. Serve chilled between 6-8°C

Saumur Brut AOC

Chateau de Brossay                     £14.49            £12.99    £59.94         £27.00

A lively and fruity pink bubbly made from the gamay, grolleau  and cabernet franc grapes. Definitely for an Xmas celebration. Serve chilled between 6-8°C.

 Vin Mousseau Qualite

Chateau de Brossay           £15.99         £12.99                 £59.94         £36.00

A really unusual medium fruity red bubbly.A great surprise to have with friends. Made from grolleau and cabernet franc grapes. Its has to be a partydrink for all occasions. Also a great match with chocolate dessert. Serve chilled 6-8°C

Selecting only the best grapes at Chateau de Chaintres

Why not pop along to our tasing at oneonetwo wines in Hythe on 10 December. We will be tasting the wines of our favourite vineyards Vieux Pressoir, Chateau Brossay a beautiful red sparkling and Enchantoir a romantic vineyard nestling snuggly in the hillock of Puy Notre Dame a very historic town on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de compostello.

We welcome our guests and customers to Kevin’s place. Its a friendly and warm welcome. Cheers.

The joys of tasting wine

This year we are offering some great deals on wines for christmas. We have some great single estate wines from the Loire valley for you to choose from.

We also have a selection of bin ends available at both our wine tasting on 26 November in Sandgate and at the tasting at oneonetwo wines in Hythe.

More on tomorrows blog. Cheers.

Our Chaintres winemaker Richard with tour guests

Here are the wines available for tasting on Saturday. Our price at the tasting is for six bottle cases. Wines can be mixed. Prices are per bottle.

Anjou Blanc AOC white Domaine  de Saugourde  Chardonnay/Chenin           Full Price £8.99  Our Price  £6.49 

Anjou Rouge AOC  red Domaine de Saugourde Cabernet Franc                          Full Price £8.99  Our Price £6.49 

Saumur Champigny AOC  red Chateau de Chaintres Cabernet Franc                Full Price £15.42   Our Price £9.49

Cabernet de Saumur AOC  pink Domaine de Rocheville  Cabernet Franc       Full Price £10.99  Our Price  £5.99

Cabernet d’Anjou AOC pink  Domaine de l’Enchantoir Cabernet Franc             Full Price £11.48  Our Price £6.49

Saumur Brut AOC Sparkling white Domaine de Saugourde Chenin Blanc        Full Price £13.99 Our Price £8.99

Saumur Brut AOC Sparkling pink Chateau de Brossay Cabernet Franc/Gamay  Full Price £14.49  Our Price £9.99

Vin Mousseau Qualite Sparkling red Le Cerisier Chateau de Brossay     Cabernet Franc/Grolleau/Gamay  Full Price £15.99  Our Price £9.99

One of our enjoyable and jovial wine tastings

Next saturday is the day of our christmas lights being turned on in Sandgate near Folkestone. Not sure by whom? Sandgate is a lovely old seaside village full of charm so why not come along.

Anyway as part of the festivities Grainger Fine Wines are doing a wine tasting at The Hub cycle and coffee shop at 61-63 High Street between 6 and 10.30pm so do come along and try some of our wines which will be priced very competetively so you can stock up on your christmas wines.

I’ll let you have details tomorrow on the wines we will be having and the prices. There will be a good discount if you buy cases of six bottles.

See you there. Cheers.