Today we took four guests from Ireland and UK on a wine tour to Domaine de L’Enchantoir with Pierre Van Den  Boom at the helm. Did the vineyard, cellar and chai and tasted the full range.  They loved it and we ended up with a bootful of delicious wines. Pierre will be bottling the Saumur blanc from the vats soon and probably aging some in barrrels for his oaked cuvee. There are two vats of Saumur Puy Notre Dame still to be bottled. I

We had a really thorough tasting of the 2010 vintage. Saumur Blanc, Saumur Rouge and Saumur Puy Notre Dame from the vats, and Cuvee Madelaine and Clos de Chavannes both 2009 which have been in oak barrels since vinification and storage when the wines were transferred in 2010. Pierre Van Den Boom continues to taste the wine regularly and will decide when the wine is right for bottling. It could be this year around September or next year. We will report on the tasting on the next blog. Keep your eyes peeled for the tasting report. 2010 is definitely as good as 2009 and maybe better. The wines a velvety smooth and certainly in advance of their progress in 2009. Its exciting stuff and we can report further accolades which means we will be struggling to get hold of enough wines. Get the orders in.

Mary Portas is impressed with Waitrose in general but not with “the abysmal quality of the wine on offer.” We couldn’t agree more. We found just one Saumur Blanc AOC and one Saumur Rouge AOC at our local Waitrose branch and that was from a large wine Co-operative.  Mary says she doesn’t “want to see racks of Hardys, Banrock Station and Oxford Landing.” Rather she would like to see wines from ”out of the ordinary, keenly priced vineyards.”

She has hit the nail on the head. We need to consider what is in the wine we are drinking and how it is made. There are great family run small independent winemakers in the loire valley who make natural wines, with no harmful chemicals. Lighter wines that taste naturally of fruit and the soil that don’t give you a headache. It is these wine that we should be drinking. I’m happy to say that we do and you could too. K     www.gfwine.co.uk

Wow, Domaine de Rocheville are receiving well deserved accolades for their fine wines. They were awarded 2 more Gold Medals at the Paris Concours Général last week: one for Saumur Blanc ‘La Dame’ 2010 (they already had a gold medal with La Dame 2009 last year)  and the second gold for Saumur Champigny ‘Le Roi’ 2010.

They have submitted three of their wines,  La Dame 2009, Le Prince 2009 and Le Roi 2006 to the International Wine Challenge, whose results should be published in May.  Of course we hope they will be successful there too…
Many congratulations to Phillipe, Jerome and Agnes - long may their successes continue.

You can read a profile of them,  their vineyard and their wines at Grainger Fine Wines http://www.gfwine.co.uk/domains/view.php?id=6

This is an extract from le Guide Hatchete for their La Dame 2009

Deux étoiles pour la DAME 2009:

” La Dame de Rocheville a été récoltée manuellement en plusieurs passages, puis élevée 10 mois en barriques avec bâtonnage pour lui conférer gras et puissance. Et en effet, voici un vin blanc de caractère au nez intense, vanillé et fumé, riche, doux et corpulent en bouche. Cette dernière prolonge avec persistance les notes boisées de l’olfaction, agrémentées de nuances briochées et minérales. Un “sec tendre” comme on les aime, à déguster dès aujourd’hui ou dans 2 ans sur un fromage à pâte molle ou un poissonj en sauce. Superbe.”