Pinot Noir de la Loire

I trust you'll all forgive me for taking a short break from Piedmont coverage. Since I returned home, I've been mixing things up a good bit (not a drop of Nebbiolo yet!) and thought I'd put in a good word for a truly pretty red from the Upper Loire that crossed my table earlier this week.

With apologies to the label designer and M. Boulay, those blasted oversized bottles (this isn't one of them) really do a number on other bottles' labels when they're squeezed into cellar bins that were never meant to accommodate their impressive girth.

Sancerre Rouge, Gérard Boulay 2007
$27. 13% alcohol. Cork. Importer: A Thomas Calder Selection, Potomac Selections, Landover, MD.
When last I wrote about Gérard Boulay, I mentioned that startlingly little information is available on the web regarding the man and his wines. Given that, perhaps it shouldn't have come as a surprise that my write-up of his '06 Sancerre rouge has proven to be one of the most frequently stumbled upon posts here at MFWT over the last year. I popped a bottle of his '07 Sancerre rouge a few days back and, though it may not have been quite so vividly fine as the '06, it was immensely pleasurable. Full of oh-so-pretty red fruit (sweet, with just the slightest suggestion of tart) and lively acidity, surprisingly forward yet finishing with a delectable nuance of bright minerality. Very food friendly and very, very approachable, it's hard to pass up right now though I suspect it will also prove interesting with a few years of rest in the cellar.

The title of today's post includes an intentional play on words on my part. Rhyming aside, it's meant to evoke the name of what's arguably the Loire's greatest wine grape, Chenin Blanc, which is locally known as Pineau de la Loire.

Though it will come as no surprise to many of you that are well versed in the lore of the Loire, as a wine retailer, I meet wine lovers everyday, at a variety of interest and knowledge levels, who are stunned to find that such a thing as red (and/or rosé) Sancerre exists. When, in answer to the inevitable question, I tell them it's produced from Pinot Noir, the response is most often one of pleasant surprise. And the most common question: what's it like?

Well, I don't sell this one but, if I did, my response should be obvious from the quick description above. Delicious. While it's considerably more expensive here on the east coast than on the west, Gérard Boulay's version is still a sound value at its price point in the $30 range, and very much worth seeking out.

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Sancerre Rouge, Gérard Boulay 2006

Alarmingly little has been written about the wines of Gérard Boulay around the vInternet. Jim Budd sums the situation up succinctly: “Gérard Boulay [is] a very good Chavignol producer a little in the style of Cotat and… deserves to be better known.” Boulay has no website. The smattering of blog posts I stumbled across in the scope of my research included only glancing reviews of one or another of his Sancerres Blancs. One of the few really informative pieces I found comes from Jancis Robinson who, in writing of Boulay’s 2006 Sancerre “Les Monts Damnés,” includes some useful information about the estate and also takes some time to laud the efforts of the importer bringing Boulay’s wines into the UK market.

I must say I’m equally impressed with Gérard Boulay’s wine, and with my recent experiences with one of his US importers – Potomac Selections, based in Landover, MD. Their portfolio absolutely offers more to explore; however, their book is not available in PA, so I’ll have to make the occasional trip south of the Mason-Dixon Line to continue the exploration.


Sancerre Rouge, Gérard Boulay 2006
$27. 13% alcohol. Cork. A Thomas Calder Selection, Potomac Selections, Landover, MD.
Gérard Boulay owns and farms nine hectares of vineyards in Chavignol, most of them planted on the chalk and limestone rich Kimmeridgian “terre blanche” soils for which the area is best known and from which some of the best wines of Sancerre stem. Boulay’s neighbors in Chavignol include Edmond Vatan and the Frères Cotat; like them, he works his vines and earth completely by hand and makes his wines with minimal manipulation, ambient yeast fermentation and only the smallest possible doses of sulfur dioxide.

Boulay’s 2006 Sancerre Rouge shows the elegance of the vintage. Entirely transparent in the glass, pale at the rim and light ruby at its core, the wine brims with sinewy cherry pit fruit, a suggestion of cola (without the sweetness that often accompanies it) and a furry, herbal aroma – sage, perhaps. There’s a spice cabinet element on the nose; I’m guessing this sees partial aging in older barrels (as do some of his whites), though I have no hard data to support that feeling, just my gut reaction. It’s one of the more forward-fruited Sancerres Rouges I’ve had – there’s no lean, green machine here – yet it’s still entirely finesse-driven wine. I found background aromas of lime rind, acidity that’s at once gentle and slightly tangy, and the expected minerality of classic Sancerre, even if it didn’t jump out and beg to be noticed.

The wine sallied effortlessly into its second day, maintaining its fresh structural aspects and revealing rounder aromatic and flavor components. Orange peel and sandalwood on the nose; dried cherries and raspberry confiture on the front and mid-palates; cranberries and apple sauce on the finish. Lovely stuff. A shockingly good match with lightly steamed (and pristinely fresh) broccoli, of all things. And relative to its peers, quite a sound value.

Lucie and Gérard Boulay in their plot of the “Clos de Beaujeu.” The image is borrowed, with my thanks, from Polaner Selections (another of Boulay’s importers), as is this well-worn quote from Monsieur Boulay himself, “C’est la nature qui fait le vin.”

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