Wednesday 15 May - 9:30 am
Direction the Coasts of Ancenis
Guillaume, Aymeric and I take the road from Nantes towards Saint Herblon in the hills of Ancenis. Why are we going there? To see Rémi Sédès of course!
After 2 months of confinement it is so good to see the first slopes of vines, to go and meet these winegrowers whose bottles have accompanied us throughout this period. We open the windows of the 206 slightly. There is sun, wind and the road that passes by makes us feel like a real therapy. In spite of the sacrosanct GPS, we get a little lost before finding the classic Rémi's cellar.
We turn around and bim, we come across Rémi on the side of the road working on vats with a man in overalls. Handbrake, we stop, we're there!
We let Rémi finish what he started then he walks towards us and leaves immediately in the small maison that he occupies on the side of the road. We wait for him on the other side of this small country road, where his winery is, in a shed that he shares with one of his friends who does mixed farming.
A minute later Remi comes back, glasses in hand, it's 10:30. We follow him into the cellar, a well ordered mess, and we stand around a table. Rémi opens his Samplemousse cuvée in 2018, a press rosé with citrus fruit that's perfect. We're checking up on him; for him no confinement, nature doesn't stop by government decision! The vegetative cycle resumes at this time, you have to be ready. Rémi also spends time with his son between school at maison, tennis on a "home made" court and his work at winemaker. It's a busy schedule!
It's time to taste!
The man in overalls comes back to tell him that he's finished his work, Rémi offers him a drink. After a second's hesitation, a glass fills up.
Rémi then explains to us that he changed cellars two years ago to come and live there.
"There's more room here, I can work in gravity. In addition, there is a cold room that used to be used as a storage place for apples, which is perfect for managing fermentation. »
We continue the tasting with the Michto 2018 vintage, its vin de France white 100% melon. The grapes are ripe, round in the mouth with a slight residual sugar, it's a little treat! Then we go back to the Samplemousse rosé, but this time in 2017! The wine is lively, fresh and precise, it slams ! Finally came "The" red from Winery, the Trait Gamay 2017.
We knew it, but every time we taste it, it calms us down! On granitic soils, Rémi brings us a gamay from a great class that he raises 2 years before marketing it. Concentration, finesse, fruit and controlled tannins. These natural wines are beautiful!
After 2 hours of tasting and exchange, we thank Rémi for his precious time and leave him with a bottle of rosé under his arm. As we leave the village, we pass by to see his vines and his mare "Tocade" who looks at us serenely. We take a good breath of air and we leave, direction Rochefort!
New stage: Anjou at Liv Vincendeau's house
On the way we stop at Guillaume's house, in his maison in the Anjou countryside. We are welcomed by his wife and children for lunch. A bottle of Cairanne " la belle rouge " 2015 from Richaud, a good chicken from Ancenis with potatoes and everyone is happy! Once full, no time for a nap, we are expected at 3pm at Winemaker Liv Vincendeau. In the car!
When you arrive in Rochefort, you are amazed, how beautiful it is, my friends! The Loire is high and there is a current on this untamed river. In the background there is Savennières and its hillsides, we see the Serrant flow. After taking a wrong turn, we finally find the Winery of Liv Vincendeau, Winemaker of German origin, who has been living on the hill of Anjou since 2014. She is waiting for us with a smile between her cellar and the family maison . We tell her about the beauty of the place and she invites us to go and have a breath of fresh air on the banks of the Loire. What an experience!
Then to his vineyards. On the heights of Rochefort, 7 hectares in a single block facing south, south/west. There is wind and it hardly ever freezes here. We stay a good half hour in front of his parcel of old chenin vines from 1941 in gobelets. Liv, passionate, explains to us that the terroir is very similar to that of Savennières, between volcanic stones and green and purple schists. She is also preparing for a conversion to Biodynamics and is starting to test the different treatments proposed.
In the meantime we meet a grandpa in a tractor who greets us, we also wave to him. We continue our walk in the vineyards of Liv discussing the importance of biodiversity and the relationship between plants and animals. On the last plot of land we meet the young people who are working on the disbudding in the vineyards of Liv, they are finishing one row and are about to start another. She tells them to finish "around 6 pm, not later! »
Back to the winery, time for a tasting! We start with the still wines, a small vertical of 3 vintages of his white Anjou cuvée d'Anjou on the plot "La Raquené". Aged in stainless steel tanks for 8 months with malolactic fermentation. The wines have a nice acidity and bitterness on the finish, almost salty. Then, the speciality of maison, the bubbles ! 2 cuvées, the first one : Loire Gold 18 a Crémant de Loire (8 months on slats) with a very good holding with fine bubbles in the Champagne style. The second "Zeitlos" (timeless in German) 2015 (95 % chenin/ 5 % cabernet sauvignon), 2 and a half years on laths, a frank and biting attack, a fine and complex wine, there is level!
As bubbles are not common in Anjou and there is no ideal cellar, Liv does her ageing on slats at Langlois Château (Bollinger) in Saumur for whom she worked about ten years ago. She also confides that she would like to plant Pinot Noir in her vines to make black white.
We end up in the cellar to taste the 2019 juices in barrels. Fermentations are not finished, there is sugar but the juices are beautiful!
After a last bubble in the garden it's time for us to go back to Nantes and for Liv to put on her second cap, mother, as the children are coming back from the nursery. Thanks for everything, Tschüss!
