Tasting at Julien Pineau (Loire)

The 2nd wine I had was this cuvée Ismaël, vin de France 2022, a Grolleau made by the young woman in the background, Margot Rousseau-Petit, and Natalia Santo. They farm (in Anjou, Loire) 3,5 hectares in production plus 1,5 hectare of young, yet non productive vines. They just began making wine last year from what I understand. Super fresh wine, very saline !

Here is a page about their start (in French).

That’s when I tasted the delicious sheep cheese of Maxime ans Anaëlle Joubert who just started (in 2021) their sheep cheese farm, La Ferme Fontaine, not far from here in Couddes, Sologne. They came with their two young children (you can see Maxime carrying one of them on his shoulders in the video above) and their refrigerated trailer full with a variety of sheep cheese. They have 67 dairy sheep, plus another 20 and 40. I hope to find the time to visit them one of these days.

It was a pleasure to see Thomas Puechavy (here on the left, at the end of lunchtime) again and taste his wines, and also to get to know Martin Hossbach (front right), a German who walked to me to tell me he loved to read me for a long time and got the opportunity to work with Thomas for the harvest. He is a music director in Berlin but at one point was on his way to change course and start making wine himself after discovering these wines and the life of vigneron. He ended up keeping doing his music work in Berlin after all but remains a great fan of all these winemakers.

Coincidentally, this was the time when vignerons were starting to go back to their respective
tasting barrels, so I followed Thomas Puéchavy to taste what he had brought.

__ Le Rayon Bleu 2021, Chenin, vines 20 to 30 years old, one year in barrel, bottled february 2023. Very demonstrrative Chenin, with nice acidity.

__ Les Vrilles 2020, Chenin as well. Elderberry notes on the nose, very nice substance and texture, love it !


__ Doyenne 2020, Chenin. Nice concentration, with an acidulous side. There’s also an oxidative side, he says.

__ Chenin demi-sec 2020 (a new cuvée). The sweetness feel is pretty light because of the tension of the Chenin.

Now I taste the wines of Sylvère Trichard of Séléné who has been running his Beaujolais domaine for 10 years and farms a surface of 8 hectares.

__ Bulle Rosée 2022,
a direct press of Gamay plus some 20 % of Chardonnay. This is the 2nd year they make petnats.

__Beaujolais Blanc, Chardonnay 2022. Vividness feel in the mouth.


__ Cuvée de Printemps 2022, Gamay. Tannins are a bit rough here I think.

__ Beaujolais Villages 2022, vines on granite. Tannins are already silky here. 14,3 %.

__ Côte de Brouilly 2021. Light colored. Unfiltered, zero so2. Quite elegant.

It’s been 10 years since Marion Pescheux and Manuel Landron [son of Jo Landron] started their domaine Complemen’terre, they
now work on a vineyard surface of 10 hectares.

__ Circus Melon 2022, all their Melon-de-Bourgogne grapes were blended that year if I decipher correctly my notes. Unfiltered, 2 grams of so2 during the élevage. 13 % alcohol that year, pretty rare for a Melon in their domaine she says. But I can assure you that this wines gets swallowed very easily… 9 €.

__ Tribute, vin de France 2020, Melon de Bourgogne, 2 years of élevage in sandstone. They keep the bottles a while before putting this cuvée on the market. 70-are parcel. Pretty nice wine. 14 €.

__ Le Mortier Gobin, vin de France 2020, Melon again. 11,5 %. Austere feel in the mouth, with character ! 16 €.

Now I could have a taste of Julien Pineau‘s other cuvées.

__ Roche Blanche 2019, Sauvignon. The weather is hot that day and the wine is a bit too
warm to judge.

__ Monket Go,ne to Heaven, 2021, a négoce wine,
Julien bought the grapes in Provence to Jean-Benoit Comor (brother of Jean-Christophe Comor) in Lambesc, Domaine de la Providence. JB Comor started his winery 5 years ago and has a 12-hectare surface This is Cinsault. 12 % alc. 2 grams of so2 added for the moving of the grapes in truck. Lovely wine, you must try that if you have the opportunity. 10 € tax included, great deal.

__ Les Sucettes à L’Aunis 2022, Pineau d’Aunis of course, his vineyard. Quite sharp feel in the mouth.

__ Parceque, vin de France 2021, négoce wine with grapes (Mourvèdre, Syrah, Grenache, Cabernet Franc) purchased to Domaine de la Providence, Chateau Salettes (Bandol) and Complemen’terre. Sooo lovely ! and only 10 € ! Turbid wine with light color, juicy feel, goes down so easy. Super deal ! Julien says he won’t repeat these purchases from souther France though, because the costs with the truch/transportation was really too high.

The Domaine Tessier is now manages by Simon Tessier and Marie Drancourt (Simon’s father Philippe having retired) and the tasting barrel was run by this young woman I forgot to ask the name of. They now farm 27 hectares, soon 30 hectares but they’re planning to scale down the
surface.

__ Cour Cheverny 2020, cuvée Sables, bottled a year ago. Romorantin that went through 12 months on lees in barrel. Quite decilicious.

__ Cheverny rosé 2022, Pinot Noir / Gamay. Direct press, generous wine in the mouth (13,5 %).

__ Cheverny rouge 2022, Pinot Noir & Gamay, plus a bit of Côt (5 %). Tasted at a cooler temperature. So-so.

__ Point Nommé 2018, Pi,not Noir with a bit of Gamay. Turbid. Super good ! Intense, with length, freshness, really nice, don’t miss this one !

__ Phil’ en Bulle 2020 (white), a turbid petnat, 12,5 %. Discreet bubbles, super good as well ! Lasting aromas including honey. 12 €.

Then here are the wines of Julien Prevel, I had a hard time finding him because at one point he left for a swim in the
Cher river (this day was hot, I concede)… Some wines I tasted after finding opened bottles on a table, some I tasted at his stand when I found him.

__ A la Bonne Heure 2020,
a blend of Sauvignon and Chenin. Very alive and enjoyable. 10 €.

__ Le Jus Brifiant, vin de France petnat rosé, Gamay. A bit of residual sugar, 12 % alc.

__ Fossé Rouge, vin de France 2020, a magnum. Cabernet Franc, 14 % alcohol, no added sulfites. I tasted the bottle among several that were nearly empty on a table while I waited for Julien who had gone for a swim. Felt some moisiness here but not sure, anyway I like the wine, would have like to taste it freshly opened.

__ Mont Jouis vin de France 2020. Chenin in oak. Bottled august 2022. Unfiltered, no so2. Nice feel of wholeness. 15 €.

__ Le Chant de Tyr, La Ptite Maize, Côt & Cab Franc vin de France 2021. 10,5 % alcohol, 10 €. Easy and light wine.

I had the surprise to see Junko Arai (pictured on right) who spent some time at this tasting. She used to own Les Bois Lucas, a domaine nearby years ago (see here her last harvest nearby) and she now comes a couple times a year from Japan to oversee the vinification of a few cuvéées she makes in the Beaujolais and the Rhône (in Japan she also makes sake !).

The Domaine Bariou-Bodet started in 2018 and now Jennifer Bariou & Thibaut Bodet farm a surface of 9 hectares in the area of Touraine Azay-le-Rideau, roughly divided in
three blocks,
and they make 9 cuvées total per year on average.

__ Ça Grolleau’te Touraine Azay-le-Rideau 2022. A rosé 100 % Grolleau. Nice vigor

__ Pistils Touraine Azay-le-Rideau 2022, 100 % Chenin, doil of clay, silt and flint stones. Bottled as well in march 2023. Nice frank mouth. 13 % alcohol.

__ Perruches Touraine Azay-le-Rideau 2020, Chenin, 20 months in new barrels (500-liter demi-muids). Lightly turbid. Nice balance and length. Zero so2 and no wine is filtered.

Vignes d’Ys vin de France 2022, a blend of Grolleau, Gamay and Cabernet Franc. Fruity with morrelo notes.11 €


__ Vin de France 2020, 100 % Côt. Appealing nose. Destemmed grapes with 15-day skin contact in stainless steel (they otherwise mostly use fiber tanks) with a bit of extraction. Delicious wine and mouth touch, chalky tannins and so fresh. This was the bottom of the bottle. 13 €.

__ Petnat rosé 2021. Grolleau/Gamay. Disgorged march 23. Bubbles a bit too forward for me.

Claire & Florent Bejon make wine in Saint Germain sur Vienne in the Chinon area. Their area was not part of Chinon in the past but the villages there were precisely the ones you could read about in the writings of Rabelais, the master of good life and wine if you remember his Gargantua and Pantagruel. They started in 2002 with some Chenin and in 2015 for thye additional surface, all their wines are made without so2 and unfiltered. 5 hectares in production (1 hectare Chenin, 4 hectares Cab Franc), plus one being just replanted (Chenin)


__ Les Gruches vin de France 2020, 2-year élevage in 500-liter demi-muids and 6 months in stainless steel. nice freshness and balance.

__ Les Bournais, vin de France 2021, Cabernet Franc located in Ligré. Whole clusters, maceration 6 months without remontage (and keeping the flowing juice in the tank).

__ Picrochole, vin de France 2021, a clos on the left bank of the river Vienne, the name comes from Rabelais writings. Different aromatic profile here, very demonstrative wine.

The Sarl Barreneche is a small négoce created in 2022 and managed by Laetitia Castaingt who years ago was making wine with Mathilde Boyeldieu (now the partner of Julien Pineau), you can see their picture in this Women Winemakers story (scroll down

to the 20th picture). Laetitia makes 2 cuvées total.

__ Zig, a white (70 % Chenin from Vernou, 30 % Sauvignon from Simon Tardieu), Chenin grapes purchased to Domaine du Clos Thierrière in Vernou-sur-Brenne. Nice easy white, only 11 % alcohol. 2 grams so2 because there was a worry during the vinification. 28 hectoliters. 10 €, super good deal.

__ À Tire Larigot, a red in one-liter bottle, from a 101-year-old parcel, 5 complated varieties there, the old way : Pineau d’Aunis, Grolleau [a proof these two now-rare varieties were common before the AOC administration imposed its stupid rules in the Loire], Côt, Cabernet Franc and Gamay Teinturier. 10 % alcohol ! Carbo maceration for 3 weeks. 24 hectoliters, 12 € a bottled, super deal as well. Zero so2. Wow that’s nice, a real thirst wine, we need more of that today !

The Distillerie du Ponant makes artisanal spirits in Sauzon in Belle-Ïle-en-Mer, an island West of Nantes, they source their fruit or grape pomace in the island or the continent around Nantes. They are part of the Gnôle Naturelle group, a rebel gropup equivalent of natural winemakers for wine (see here English version of their page). EU legislation actually pushes distilleries, even small ones, to buy industrial alcohol (named 96.4, the same thing that is used to make engine fuel) for their products and it’s an arduous
fight going against the current when like Jeff and Jim you want to work with natural products
from the very start of the process. They’re selecting themselves their base materials, be it pressed pomace sourced from wine farms or fruits from old orchards, some being abandoned by their owners. They make a wide range of products and spirits, from 20 to 25. I was reluctant to go taste them because it was very hot that day but I don’t regret at all, superb spirits indeed.


__ La Grappe, distilled Chenin pomace (grapes from 2022, distillation in 2023). They drive to Anjou the day of the harvest to collect the pomace. Triple distillation, 50 cl bottle, 42 %. Man, that’s smooth !

__ La Fine 2022, from appes picked in orchards in Brittany.Wow, that’s something ! 8 months of élevage in liquoreux barrels.

__ Zapoï (pictured on left), named from a Russian word meaning drunkenness lasting several days and after which you don’t remember what happened and awake in an unknown home… Goes down easy, I’m surprised. Grasses macerated to add aromas, very refined.

__ Kalsarikännit 2022/2023, here they used 2000 liters of a wine Julien Pineau didn’t like and preferred to sell for distillation. Exoressive nose, sage aromas


__ London Calling, some kind of gin, can be had also like a tonic (with Schweppes). WXhat a nose ! Oddly again (and thanks to the industrial-minded EU rules !!!) they can’t call this Gin on the label because they didn’t use industrially-produced 96,4 to make it [real spirits get pushed on the side of the road, like real winemakers who end up labelling as vin de France]… Wow, swallow that and you’ll see what you get, real pleasure.

__ Dolce Vita, using lemon and wild arugula, sweet spirit, easier to swallow for people unused to hard liquor, pretty nice as well.

__ Le Jaune, their own rendition of Absinthe and Pastis (pictured on right), hgere of course we add a bit of watere and it expectedly turns white. Super good, Pastis-like but totally artisanal. 51 % alcohol, not a coincidence when you know the famous (if mass produced) French Pastis… 43 € For your information, of this retail price, 14 € are taxes.

Tasting these sprits was really a very nice surprise, try that if given the opportunity !