2019 Loire: Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé and Vouvray

Sancerre in the evening light – taken from above Chavignol Quick summary of reports: good to excellent vintage in Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé and Vouvray In the middle of last week we spent a day and half making a number of quick visits in Sancerre and Pouilly-sur-Loire to see how the 2019 vintage had gone. Unfortunately it …

Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau opts for Vin de France + Cab d’Anjou ‘bashing…’

Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau, son of the late Didier Dagueneau and now the wine-maker and head of this famous estate with his sister Charlotte, has decided to ditch the Pouilly-Fumé appellation in favour of Vin de France. According to reports both in La Revue du Vin de France and Le Journal du Centre Louis-Benjamin's decision follows …

Signing a convention + wines from a relaxed lunch

Communal vineyard @ Epeigné-les-Bois: signing the agreement It can be safely said that Les 5 du Vin cover wine in its many different aspects. Yesterday David wrote about Languedoc with Roussillon, the world's largest vineyard. Today I return to the founding of one of France's smallest parcels of vines – the communal vineyard @ Epeigné-les-Bois …

Various from Portugal & France

This week I present for your delectation a small collection of info bites – tapas or petiscos perhaps? Portugal Adegga Wine Market on Saturday 1st December 2018 – a date for your diary This year the winter Adegga Wine Market has a new venue at Armazém 16, Marvila, Lisboa with 70 Produtores Adegga, 500 Vinhos, 5 Chefs, …

2018 Loire – is this the birth of a legendary vintage?

 Pinot Noir awaiting sorting  @Domaine Henri Bourgeois   On Friday Alphone Mellot snr was categorical: "This is a mythical vintage – 1947 but with quantity!" Alphonse Père was born in 1947 – obviously he will remember little of that year but says that he has never seen a vintage of this quality. We will see …

Pascal Jolivet – Sancerre and more (Part 1)

  Pascal Jolivet neck label A couple of weeks ago I received a box of samples of his current releases kindly sent by Pascal Jolivet. I have been enjoying tasting them and this post covers the first seven.  2017 Attitude, IGT (Above and below)   2017 Attitude, IGT Val de Loire  Attitude comes from 60 …

Central Loire Vineyards – 1990 – 2017

The last 27 years has seen very considerably changes in the Central Loire Vineyards. With one sole exception it has been a tale of success and expansion. It is fascinating to compare the area planted in each of the Central Loire appellation in 1990 with the area planted in 2017. An overall increase of 2451 …