Author: Dirk Chan
Already on this trip, we’ve noticed how young the winemakers are in the Loire Valley, and our visit to the Chateau Marie du Fou estate in Vendee is another example. Young Jeremie Mourat is in his early thirties and leading the next wave of innovative winemakers in this vast region. What a beautiful Chenin Blanc the 2009 Clos Saint Andre is, made from old vines from an ancient clos vineyard formerly owned by the Taittinger family for the longest time as an experimental plot, and which Jeremie recently purchased it from the famous Champagne house after it sat idle since 1968. This wine is a great expression of the grape.
A wide range of wines are produced by Jeremie, including his father’s vineyards (under the Chateau de Marie du Fou label) with Chenin Blanc and Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc in the forefront, but we were impressed with an intriguing bottle of the red indigenous grape Negrette (very Tannat like), requiring much cellaring.
In the cellar, Jeremie is using the world’s biggest egg shape vat (pictured with Mark Ferrier of Renaissance Wines), made from porous clay, and with an ingenious interior design such that the wine is swirled automatically and continuously without human intervention. As well, we were all duly impressed with his specially designed stainless steel spit bucket (yes) which leads directly into the sewer system (click on the ‘read full article’ link below to see it). The whole vineyard is very modern in feel and the wines and their UFO based labels are also avant-garde.
Tomorrow, a picnic at Langlois-Chateau