Domaine de Bellivière - Keeping it Real in the Northern Loire

The northern most vineyards in western France are in the Loire Valley appellations of Jasnières and Coteaux du Loir. The Chenin Blancs from these places have never been as sought after as those from Vouvray, Montlouis, or Savennières. Probably because this is a difficult region to grow wine grapes - it's cold and ripeness does not come easily. And there hasn't exactly been a plethora of inspired grower/producers either.

In the late 1990's inspired wine making came to Jasnières and Coteaux du Loir in the form of Eric and Christine Nicolas who own and operate Domaine de Bellivière. They are firmly in the healthy farming/natural winemaking camp. When they replant they use sélection massale or cuttings from old vines (as opposed to using clones), they plow all of their vineyard surface to aerate and to remove weeds (as opposed to spraying with herbicides), they harvest entirely by hand, and fermentation is achieved via naturally occurring yeasts. They have been fully organic since 2005 and as of 2008 farm their entire estate biodynamically.
All of this is meaningless, though, if the wines don't taste good. Well, they taste very good, sometimes great. There are sweet wines made in vintages that promote botrytisized grapes, but the workhorses of the Domaine in the white wine department are the four dry to off-dry Chenin Blancs, two from Coteaux du Loir and two from Jasnières. The Coteaux du Loir wines are L'Effraie (The Owl) from younger vines, and Vieilles Vignes Éparses (Scattered Old Vines) from vines of between 50-80 years old, scattered among several different plots. The Jasnières wines are Les Rosiers from younger vines and Caligramme, another old vines cuvée.

Of Bellivière's wines, the Jasnières are more accessible, more typical in their Chenin Blanc character, and more expensive. The single finest Bellivière wine I've had is the 2006 Rosiers (haven't tasted the other 06's yet though). I guess you might say that the Jasnières wines are "better." But in general I prefer Bellivière's Coteaux du Loir wines because of their unique terroir stamp.

L'Effraie and Vieille Vignes Éparses both show classic Chenin Blanc characteristics - aromas and flavors that include wool, wax, quince and other orchard fruit, herbs, honey, and minerals. But they show something else too, something that I have experienced in no other wine: distinct aromas of what I would call fir tree and wintergreen. Even in a hot and ripe vintage like 2005 when the wines were richer and sweeter than usual, these trademark aromas were still evident amidst all of the fruit.

If you're interested in Loire whites, all of these are definitely worth trying. Here are notes from bottles I drank in the past few months:

2004 Domaine de Bellivière Coteaux du Loir L'Effraie, $22. An incredibly strange wine, but I love it. This is all about fir trees and herbs - wintergreen, mint, bay leaves. The palate is fresh, not oxidized, and still kind of grippy. This has a long life ahead of it and I wish I had more. It reminds me of Oregon's Clear Creek Douglass Fir Eau de Vie.

2005 Domaine de Bellivière Vieille Vignes Éparses, $18 (because Chambers Street has it on closeout for some reason - it should be closer to $30). Like the 2004, this wine is bursting with fir notes. As per the vintage, this wine is fuller and thicker than the 2004, and I don't think that's a good thing in this case - the lithe intensity of the '04 made more sense to me. Decent acidity, a smoky herbal finish, this paired beautifully with my friend Adam's roast pork shoulder stuffed with lemon rind and capers.

2005 Domaine de Bellivière Jasnières Les Rosiers, $18 (again, closeout at Chambers Street). This has a lot of residual sugar and not enough acidity to elevate the wine. It is good, but not memorable. I preferred 2004 of this wine, and prefer the Coteaux du Loir wines in 2005.

2006 Domaine de Bellivière Jasnières Les Rosiers, not yet released. A much more complete wine than the 2005, this one shows its beautiful honeyed fruit but also a thick layer of minerals. It is on day 3 when the wine really begins to open up, showing broad and expansive flavors of classic Chenin wool, lime, and gorgeous delicate bitter honey. Super fresh and with good acidity, this is delicious wine that will age gracefully.

Bellivière's wines are imported by Louis/Dressner Selections.

By the Glass - Wines that I Don't Like Edition

When I read reviews I always wish for a sense of what the writer doesn't like - I get the fullest sense of their palate that way. But many people only write about the wines they like. For example, Brooklynguy, a blogger I feel particularly close to, hardly ever writes about wines he doesn't like. He really should do that from time to time. If not, a reasonable person might think "Is there anything this guy DOESN'T like? He likes everything. Therefore, nothing is special to him."

Well, take it easy, folks. There are many many many wines that just suck, to my taste. But I just don't consider myself expert enough to sit here and tell you definitively that a wine is bad. Instead, I'll tell you what I've tasted recently that I don't like. You might like these wines - what do I know? In any case, you'll get a more complete sense of my palate.

At a delicious brunch at Deetrane's house he opened a bottle of NV Feuillatte Blanc de Blancs. What an interesting experience it was for me to drink this wine in all of its chemical candied glory. After a steady diet of the grower stuff, this is the first mass market Champs I've had in a while, and with all due respect to the Deetrane (he likes it, and there is an emotional attachment too - this is a special wine for him and his wife), I found it to be a cartoon version of Champagne. Incredibly sweet candied bananas clubbing you over the head, a trio of birds whistling around to signify the daze you're in. My personal mission now is to get Deetrane to try more grower Champs.

I don't dabble too often in Rioja, and the 2001 Palacios de Remondo Rioja Propiedad H. Remondo, $24, is a good example of why I stick to López de Heredia. I liked this wine when I had it years ago in a restaurant so I bought a few bottles. It hasn't been as good at home (maybe it's my cooking?). This time it seemed roasted and pruney, nothing elegant or nuanced about it. Although we had hearty food, it was out of balance and almost overbearing. The blend is 55% Tempranillo and 45% Grenache (yes, I refuse to say Garnacha). For now I stay with López de Heredia when the Rioja mood strikes me.

I believe in miracles, but I still don't anticipate tasting a DRC wine anytime soon. But Aubert de Villaine makes wines under his own name from grapes grown in the Côte Chalonnaise. That is as close as I'm gonna get for now. I drank the 2006 A & P de Villaine Bouzeron, $23, the other night and it did almost nothing for me. Bouzeron is the appellation created to showcase the Aligoté grape. Wines made from Aligoté should be crisp and lean and fresh. This wine was none of those things, even on day 2 with plenty of airtime. Maybe 2006 was no good in the area. I can't imagine that the wine was supposed to be aged - it's Aligoté for goodness sake. Most people throw some Cassis in there and call it a Kir. Anyway, this wine was very uninspiring. Maybe I'm just missing something - this Villaine guy is clearly not playing games.

You know by now how fond I am of Loire Valley wines. I want to make sure that you know that I don't love all of them, even if the producer is hot with all of the cool cat winos and sommeliers. Here is a hipster wine that I just didn't care for. The 2005 Domaine de Bellivière Coteaux du Loir Le Rouge-Gorge, $20, is a wine that I was stunned to find that I didn't like. Bellevière is the amazing vigneron who is bringing Jasnieres and Coteaux du Loir back to greatness. This is natural wine making using traditional grapes, like Pinot D'Aunis for this wine. I have always enjoyed Bellevière's wines. Not this one - it was a wolf in sheep's clothing. Isn't Pinot D'Aunis supposed to be light bodied and redolent of strawberries and flowers, with a dose of black pepper? That's what I've found in the others I tasted. This one had the pepper, but it was very deep and dark and pretty heavy too. At 14% alcohol there was not a lot of elegance going on. Flavors were a touch roasted and the tannins were intrusive. I don't think this was a bad bottle, I think instead that the ripeness of 05 encouraged wine makers to do more with their raw material, and sometimes the resulting wine is out of character.

Alright, I'm not a total curmudgeon. I'm going to open a bottle of Billiot Rosé Champagne tonight with the BrooklynLady for Valentines Day and I love that wine. I don't hate everything. Happy Valentines Day to you all.