Loire: Sancerre and Pouilly Fume

Question 1

Sancerre and PF : Climate

Answer 1

• continental
• cold winters and warm summers
• Spring frost and summer hails are common hazards
• **Long growing days and low light /heat intensity makes restrained flavours in the wine **
• Rainfall is 750mm - reduced drought issues

Question 2

Sancerre and PF: Sauvignon Blanc

Answer 2

• late budding, early ripening suitable for cooler climates
• vigourous
• canopy must be manged to prevent shading = underripe and green flavours
• prone to mildew ,botrytis and trun diseases Esca
  *
  Wines are pronounced grass, bell pepper and asparagus , goosberry, grapefruit and wet stone to riper passionfruit . Medium body and
  high acid
• Row orientation and canopy management affect flavours - shadier will produce grassy, green pepper , sunnier tropical fruit
• picking dates are important before acid drops out
• 80% Sauvignon Blanc

Also some Pinot Noir is grown

Question 3

Sancerre and Pouilly Fume : Winemaking

Answer 3

• typical ferments are slightly higher , upper part of cool for more restrained fruit expression
• MLFC is blocked but some will allow for style
• Higher quality wines are aged in old oak to fill out body of the wine without the flavours of oak - lees aging
• Henri Bourgeois uses new oak to make a Fume style

Question 4

Loire: Sancerre AOC

Answer 4

• white wines are only SB
• red /rose from Pinot Noir
• Most successful vineyards in the Loire
• steep hillside slopes 200-400m , provide moderating influences
• **Max yields are 65hl/hc for whites and 63hl/hc for rose and 59hl/hc for reds **
• Wines are medium grapefruit and gooseberery, Med abv and High acid
• Good to outstanding
• Super prem Didier Dagueneau

Question 5

Sancerre : Soils 3 types

Answer 5

1. Caillottes : very shallow soils over limstone , fruit grown on here produce the most aromatic wines , ready for drinking
2. Terre Blanches : Kimmeridigian soil , limestone and marl , fruit is slow to ripen and include some of the most famous vineyards .** Structured and long lived wines **
3. Silex : flinty soils, accumulate heat and lead to early ripening eg. Les Romains next to Loire . Fruit is stony and smokey

Question 6

Loire: Pouilly Fume AOC

Answer 6

** **Max yields are 65hl/hc for whites and 63hl/hc for rose and 59hl/hc for reds **
* Flatter land
* Frost is common
* same range of soils
* rounder and less aromatic than Sancerre - need 6 months to 1 year in bottle

Question 7

Loire: Reuilly AOC , Quincy AOC and Menetou Salon AOC

Answer 7

All the same :
* * white wines from SB , red from PN only , rose from Pinot Gris and PN, same yield as Sancerre
* White wines from SB and same Max yield as Sancerre
* Same wines and yields as Sancerre . More frost issues

Question 8

Sancerre and Pouilly Fume : Wine Business

Answer 8

• promo through the BIVC - Bureau Interprofessional de Vins du Centre
• many family owned estates -generations deep
• many moving from paris to the country to make wine
• Negociants are 50% of wines sales ,estates 41% and co-ops under 10%
  Large negociant companies are buying up prestigious estates .
  Frost severly reducing crops has created the need for negociants to small family business to help fill the void in volume
  eg. buying in grapes
• Markets are specialist wine retailand hospo in France
• Top exports are USA, UK, Germany
• Sancerre biggest export by volume and value
  *

Question 9

Sancerre and PF: Organic, Bio and Natural Wine

Answer 9

• Nicolas Joly is the founder of “Return to Terroir”
• biodynamic producers which has gone worldwide
• Organic is below avg due to damp conditions .
• Centre of natural wine making