Loire

92 Muscadet-Sèvre-et-Maine sur Lie AC 2009
Domaine de la Quilla

Grape:100% Muscadet (12% alc.)

Quilla’s wine is a blend of wines from different terroirs in the commune of La Haye-Fouassière. Quintessential Muscadet, it offers clean, ripe fruit, with a gunflinty note on the nose, nice balancing acidity and a long minerally finish.

* Half bottles are available

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93 Muscadet-Sèvre-et-Maine sur Lie AC 2007 Les Gras Moutons
Claude Branger

Grape:100% Muscadet (12% alc.)

This comes from 40 to 75 year old vines on the banks of the river Maine. It has denser fruit than the Quilla and is a very focused, intensely mineral wine that is absolutely delicious. Bring on the shellfish! For drinking now to 2012.

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94 Pouilly-sur-Loire AC 2008
Domaine de Riaux

Grape:100% Chasselas (12% alc.)

This wine comes from 50 year old vines in Saint Andelain, with flint-streaked soil. An understated wine with intriguing hints of mint, celery and white flowers on the nose and a gentle persistence on the palate.

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95 Pouilly-Fumé AC 2009
Domaine Jeannot

Grape:100% Sauvignon (13% alc.)

Jeannot’s wine comes from the flint rich soil of Saint Andelain. There is a pronounced flinty character on the nose, following through to the palate which is ripe, harmonious, with hints of grapefruit and peach. For drinking now to 2011.

* Half bottles are available

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96 Sancerre AC 2008
Pierre Riffault

Grape:100% Sauvignon (12.5% alc.)

Riffault is based in Verdigny and has a 10 hectare domaine dispersed over varying terroirs (limestone-clay marls, broken up limestone and siliceous clay with flint). Flint helps to give a lipsmacking, gunflinty minerality and really plays its part here with this pure, typical, good value wine. For drinking now to 2011.

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97 Sancerre AC 2009
Domaine Croix Saint Ursin, Sylvain Bailly

Grape:100% Sauvignon (12.5% alc.)

Bailly’s classic Sancerre has a typical gunflint nose and steely fruit. The vines are planted on the steep well-exposed slopes of Bué which have a particularly stony base. For drinking now to 2011.

* Half bottles are available

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98 Sancerre AC 2008
Gerard Boulay

Grape:100% Sauvignon (12.5% alc.)

This comes from 35 year old vines on the hills of Chavignol. Cuve aged and a lovely, bright pale colour with greeny glints, on the nose it offers pure, restrained sauvignon, with an evident salty character and hint of iodine which follows through on the palate with a touch of lemon, fennel and blackcurrant leaf. For drinking now to 2012.

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99 Sancerre AC 2008 Monts Damnés
Gerard Boulay

Grape:100% Sauvignon (13% alc.)

This outstanding wine comes from 40 year old vines located on the central, finest plot of this famous hillside. Partly vinified in cuve and partly in three to four year old barrels (good Troncais oak) it was bottled in May 2008. Restrained on the nose, it has much more evident weight on the attack, then becomes really quite racy with salty, iodiney notes on the finish. For drinking now to 2015.

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100 Sancerre AC 2007 Clos de Beaujeu
Gérard Boulay

Grape:100% Sauvignon (13% alc.)

This comes from 30 to 60 year old vines that were until recently in the ownership of Bourges Cathedral for 500 years! The vineyard is very steep and south-east facing helping to give the wine a little more backbone and nerve than Monts Damnés. Vinified and aged along similar lines to the above it will age magnificently. For drinking now to 2017.

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101 Sancerre AC 2008 Comtesse
Gérard Boulay

Grape:100% Sauvignon (13% alc.)

This comes from 0.40 hectares of 65 yearold vines on a prime slope in the heart of Monts Damnés. As long ago as 1870 Comtesse was considered the finest vineyard in Sancerre, and rented to him back in 2004 by a retiring vigneron, this is Boulay’s pride and joy. The vines are now attuned to his touch, and offer a wine with more intensity of fruit than Monts Damnés but still with an excellent backbone. For drinking now to 2017.

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102 Sancerre Rosé AC 2009
Gérard Boulay

Grape:100% Pinot Noir (12.5% alc.)

Is there a better rosé than this anywhere in France? 100% pinot noir from old vines gives this supremely elegant wine with fine fruit, saline minerality and a sustained finish.

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103 Sancerre Rouge AC 2008
Gérard Boulay

Grape:100% Pinot Noir (13% alc.)

50 year old vines, natural yeasts, no fining, no filtration, sensitive ageing in new to six year old barrels make this stylish and elegant – more than a match for many red burgundies. For drinking now to 2013.

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104 Saumur-Champigny AC 2008
Domaine Le Petit Saint-Vincent

Grape:100% Cabernet Franc (12.5% alc.)

Dominique Joseph’s wine has a supple, natural quality, a black cherry nose, and is packed with cranberry fruit nicely underscored by the chalky soil. For drinking now to 2012.

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105 Saumur-Champigny AC 2007 Amateus Bobi
Sebastien Bobinet

Grape:100% Cabernet Franc (12.5% alc.)

A micro-cuvée from a micro domaine. Low yields of 40 hectos per hectare from 20 year old vines. After destalking, the wine is fermented with a 60 day maceration at just 12° centigrade to extract a kernel of silky fruit and no harsh tannins (the winemaker’s version of slow cooking).The wine is then aged in four year old barrels for 16 months. It has a fabulous vibrant raspberry colour and depth of natural cabernet fruit. For drinking now to 2011.

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*New* 106 St Nicolas de Bourgueil AC 2008 Les Graviers
Domaine du Mortier

Grape:100% Cabernet Franc (12% alc.)

The Boisard family have nine hectares of vines organically certified. Their wines are all marked by an incredible purity of fruit, low alcohol, and silky tannins and are unfined and unfiltered. For drinking now to 2012.

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*New* 107 Touraine AC 2008 Le Haut Midi
Gérard Marula

Grape:50% Cabernet Franc, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Grolleau (12% alc.)

Gérard Marula produces this extraordinary wine with tiny yields from 60 year old vines in a sandy, clay soil overlying limestone. 100% destalked and vinified in cuve, the grapes are trod by foot for two minutes a day during a three week cuvaison. Aged in cuve with no sulphur, the wine has beautiful fruit, some spice, and fine tannins with an old viney print. For drinking now to 2013.

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108 Chinon AC 2008 Gabare
Famille Grosbois

Grape:100% Cabernet Franc (12.5% alc.)

The Grosbois family produce four cuvées of Chinon, vinified by geographic parcel. This cuvée comes from a due south facing lower terrace of the Vienne river near Panzoult and a sandy, pebbly, clay soil. Aged in cuve, it has supple, attractive primary red fruit with a gentle, stony undertone. For drinking now to 2012.

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109 Chinon AC 2008 Clos du Noyer
Famille Grosbois

Grape:100% Cabernet Franc (12.5% alc.)

The Grosbois’ top wine comes from 20 to 40 year old vines with a due south aspect right at the top of a gentle sloping river terrace near Panzoult, where the soil is made up of ‘millarge’ (a marine sediment). Meticulous viticulture (yields of only 30 hectos per hectare) have given a wine with lush fruit (black/red), supple and mineral on the palate with fine, well integrated tannins. For drinking now to 2014+.

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110 Vouvray AC 2008 (Sec)
Vincent Raimbault

Grape:100% Chenin (12% alc.)

The 2006 Sec has ripe fruit and a nice mineral touch on the nose, is very clean and dry on the palate, with good lift on the finish. It would make an excellent accompaniment to fruits de mer or terrine de poissons.

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110 Vouvray AC 2008 (Demi-Sec)
Vincent Raimbault

Grape:100% Chenin (12% alc.)

The 2008 Demi-Sec again has a pronounced chalky mineral quality on the nose, has more weight on the palate and a long finish. It would go well with charcuterie starters and also with good goats cheese. For drinking now to 2011+.

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*New* 111 Savennières AC 2007 Equilibre
Domaine du Gué d’Orger

Grape:100% Chenin (14% alc.)

This is Loic Mahé’s top cuvee and the extremely low yields (11 hectos per hectare) give a dry wine with sumptuous concentration. On the palate the wine has excellent balance, and there are hints of quince, ginger and mountain herbs, then mineral stamp on the exceptionally long finish. Best served carafed, at cellar temperature. For drinking now to 2020+.

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112b Montlouis-sur-Loire AC 2008 Premier Rendez-Vous
Bertrand & Lise Jousset

Grape:100% Chenin (13% alc.)

40 to 70 year old vines here, planted in a sandy, clay flint rich soil less than a metre above a limestone mother rock. Viticulture is meticulous and organic, and yields at only 25 hectos per hectare are very low. The juice is directed by gravity (never pumped), into one to five year old barrels where it carries out its fermentation. 40% of the malo-lactics were completed, and the wine retains good freshness and cut, with dry apple-quince fruit and mineral undertones of gunflint. A very versatile food wine or aperitif, the Joussets recommend this should be carafed. For drinking now to 2015.

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113 Montlouis-sur-Loire AC 2007 Singulier
Bertrand & Lise Jousset

Grape:100% Chenin (13% alc.)

Singulier is the Jousset’s top cuvée from a 1.1 hectare plot of 60 to 80 year old vines called le Clos Renards. This is possibly Montlouis’ best lieu-dit where the sandy, flinty soil lies just 30cm above the limestone mother rock. Aged in recent 400 ltr barrels this dry, dense, zesty, perfectly balanced wine has an exceptional mineral vibration. For drinking now to 2017.

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114 Anjou AC 2006/2007 Le Clos des Rouliers
Richard Leroy

Grape:100% Chenin (13% alc.)

There is a finesse and restraint to this wine (from only 0.70 hectares of low-yielding vines) with a mineral flavour imparted by the schist. Fermented completely dry with the malolactics completed and no batonnage, it shows chenin in its most elegant style. For drinking now to 2015+.

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115 Anjou AC 2007 Les Noels de Montbenault
Richard Leroy

Grape:100% Chenin (13% alc.)

The vines here are planted in the centre of an ancient volcano on the plateau of a windy ridge of hills overlooking the river Layon. Harvested from only ripe grapes (any botyritised grapes were individually cut out) and fermented dry, the wine has a sumptuous concentration on the palate, with a hint of quince and a notable mineral (irony) flavour. Rich but very balanced, this is an exceptional wine. For drinking now to 2030+.

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Loire

Over the last ten years the Loire wine region has changed out of all recognition to the point where it is now producing some of the most exciting wines in France. This revolution has largely been led by a band of younger vignerons, who have applied fastidious viticulture and much lower yields to show some of the old established appellations in a totally different guise.As an added bonus all the cabernet franc reds are low in alcohol (between 12 and 12.5%), and most of the whites, other than chenin in exceptional sites, are below 13%. They are very adaptable and versatile food wines.

New to the list this year are three domaines. Firstly, Domaine de Mortier in St Nicolas de Bourgueil (just to the west of Bourgueil). A nine hectare domaine certified organic, here the Boisard family vinify by parcel, according to the soil and mother rock. The vineyards lie on an upper terrace of the right bank of the Loire and the wine we offer comes from a deep, gravelly soil. The wine is notable for its exceptionally pure, natural fruit.

Gérard Marula is one of the top artisanal vignerons of the Loire. He used to work for Jo Pithon and now has two hectares of 50 to 60 year old vines. Working organically with microscopic yields (less than 20 hectos per hectare) his Touraine vineyards are on the edge of the limestone plateau just outside the Saumur Champigny appellation. The appellation is of no interest to Gérard – I suspect he will move towards the VDT nomenclature together with many other top Loire vignerons in the near future. His sole interest is making the best possible wine.

We are really excited after looking for more than ten years to add a brilliant Savennières to the list. Savennières offers the finest terroir in the Loire (it is classified as a World Heritage site by Unesco) and the soils here comprise a greeny black schist and aphenites – a volcanic rock, blackish in appearance formed notably by quartz crystals. The slopes are often dramatically steep and due south facing. Loic Mahé of Domaine Gué d’Orger has just three hectares of vines, working organically at low yields (just 11 hectos per hectare in 2007) to produce a dry wine with a marked mineral resonance.