Category: wine reviews

Mr Whirly says:

“ I love Emile’s wines since they are made from the heart. Emile’s father was a winemaker in a little town called Bue, just north of Sancerre and the families history of winemaking dates back to 1650. He is putting this lost appellation, that was forgotten about after being destroyed by phylloxera  in the 19th century and Sancerre and Pouilly took the limelight, very much back on the map.  It gained its own Appellation status very recently, in 1998 so its got a lot of catching up to do, but Emile Balland, mark my words, will lead the way.”

We are starting off with Emile’s two benchmark wines that stamp his winemaking skills and expertise onto the UK wine market with a very profound and permanent thud!

“ Les Beaux Jours”; The beautiful days! What could be more apt and positive in a title!

The white wine is hand picked, 100% Sauvignon and is from the youngest vines planted in 2000. On the lee’s ferment: great ample and full mouth feel. Wonderful example of the skill and passion of this young winemaker and a really superb price too for the quality of the wine in the bottle.

The red is 80% Pinot Noir, 20% Gamay.  Again from the youngest vines, Light, fresh and again with a gorgeous mouth feel.  I beg anyone not to like this soft and alluring wine.

Alc vol:12.0%

Emile and Dash, my faithful hound inspect the grapes…

…as well as play stick fetching

Mr Whirly says:

The “ King of Quincy” wines are here at last!!

I have visited Jean- Michel Sorbe’s vineyard, thanks I  might add to Armelle Poole-Connor , wife of a very old family friend Murray, whose family are cousins of the Sorbes, on two occasions now. On the first occasion I drove to the wrong Preuilly ( there are two in France) with Simon Thomas,  a close friend from my Bibendum days, and rang rather embarrassingly to say that I would not be there for lunch, since I had arrived at the wrong Preuilly, thankfully only 100 kms due west of this pretty little village on the Cher river and there were no vineyards in evidence in the surrounding countryside. I arrived for dinner instead. Good start Whirly! ( the offending map with a 20 franc price tag on it lies abreast “ The Booter” with a light lunch above it, before it had caused such agony in missing madame Sorbe’s lunch)

On the second occasion, in July 2012 I sped over to Preuilly from just south of Sancerre, through the lovely forests and rolling hills to meet “ The King of Quincy” again, very much in  a hurry since I was due back in Sancerre to meet Vincent Gaudry later that day. I tasted with Jean-Michel Sorbe his 2010 “ Les Berry Curiens” and ordered it. Its benchmark Sauvignon and in its way so different to Sancerre. This wine is also made from  some of the oldest vineyards that Mousieur Sorbe owns, over 80 years old.

Why the name?

The “Epicurean berry”, derived from the monks at the Abbaye de Beauvoir and their brotherhood in 1234 is now a group of friends with Jean-Michel at the head and they are following the same lines of work.

The “ King of Quincy” wines are here at last!Jean-Michel Sorbe really is the man that has put this ‘home” of Sauvignon Blanc in the world (this famous grape was originally grown at the Abbaye de Beauvoir just down the road from Preuilly and Quincy). He is recognized as one of the most important figures in Loire winemaking.  This is top Sauvignon blanc, hand-picked from four separate vineyards, fresh yet with loads of zingy depth. This is one of the finest examples of traditional Sauvignon Blanc, out of tank and into the bottle.

Both vineyards are located in the heart of Berry (Approximately 200 km south of Paris), a few kilometres west of Bourges. This is not the Loire proper but south and slightly east, on the banks of the beautiful river Cher.

Alc vol:13.0%

Mr Whirly says:

“ I visited Vincent’s little hamlet on the road running west of Sancerre on the 30th July this year. He’s such an unassuming fellow that it took me 90 minutes to find his house and shed where he makes his sublime wines, no signage being present on the little streets of “Les Petit Chambre” at all. He makes wines in a very careful way and indeed secretive. Some of the wines I taste that afternoon I am not allowed to know where their origin is. I did not believe that Sancerre should be oaked before I tasted his Scorpion label wine. Now I am convinced.

Vincent Gaudry is well known throughout the business as one of France’s most secretive winemakers. What is known of him, however, is that he is very much at one with nature. He harvests his crop, ‘when the vines tell him to’ while his vineyard is home to an array of standing stones which he believes his ancestors constructed in an effort to channel energy between earth and heaven. One thing that is common knowledge however, is the sublime quality of his wines, which are among the Loire’s most stunning, surely justification for the unusual methods which Vincent utilises.

On average the vines are 35 years old. Meticulous care and manual harvest. Vincent is there every step of the way, including the several months the wines are aged on the lees before bottling.

Alc vol: 13.0%