interview

<p><em>This interview with Thierry Puzelat stems from a series of emails from October 2010.</em></p> <p><strong>How did you end up a vigneron?</strong><br /> <br /> I inherited the <glossary term="Estate" title="427">estate</glossary> from my father. As a youth, he would make us work in the vineyards whether we wanted to or not. And you know, it&#39;s normal in adolescence to identify with something else than what your parents do, especially when you&#39;re at an age when you just want to have fun riding around on your <glossary term="Mobylette" title="1390">mobylette</glossary> and fall in love for the first time. So at first wine wasn&#39;t exactly the most riveting prospect. As I got older though, I decided to give it a go and became fully involved in the <glossary term="Estate" title="427">estate</glossary> at around 18 years old.<br /> <br /> <strong>What&#39;s the work like with the vines?&nbsp;</strong><br /> <br /> The goal is simply to maintain the health and soul of the vines by keeping them pure.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>What about your terroirs?</strong><br /> <br /> As far as my&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Terroir" title="1026">terroirs</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> I prefer a place to geography, pedology or geology. Some places just exemplify well being and that&#39;s enough to spend a lifetime there. Unless you know more than one of these places!<br /> <br /> <strong>What&#39;s the winemaking process like?</strong><br /> <br /> Healthy vines on healthy soils lead to healthy grapes that have something to say. My &quot;<glossary term="Vinification" title="1104">vinification</glossary>&quot; process (I hate that word) consists of being discreet enough to let the wines tell the story of where they&#39;re from.<br /> <br /> <strong>How do you feel about your AOC and AOC wines?&nbsp;</strong><br /> <br /> I give <glossary term="AOC" title="108">AOC</glossary>&#39;s credit for labeling a geographic location. Ours (<glossary term="Cheverny" title="283">Cheverny</glossary> and <glossary term="Touraine" title="1036">Touraine</glossary>) don&#39;t do much to distinguish themselves other than being specific places, so I guess the <glossary term="AOC" title="108">AOC</glossary> did its job. I believe our wines are very typical of our&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="AOC" title="108">AOC</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> as opposed to the vast majority of the wines that share the same name.<br /> <br /> <strong>Do you ever have a specific goal in mind with how you want your wines to end up?</strong><br /> <br /> I like my wines, but the problem is you become a better taster much faster than a skilled winemaker. In such, I always feel like I have some catching up to do!<br /> <br /> As far as how I want my wines to end up, <glossary term="Vigneron/Vignaiolo" title="1089">vignerons</glossary> are not &quot;creators&quot;. They&#39;re supposed to service their <glossary term="Terroir" title="1026">terroir</glossary> and express it by using their personal experience. You&#39;d have to be crazy and pretentious to think you can dominate your <glossary term="Terroir" title="1026">terroir</glossary> and its history. I hope our wines reflect that.<br /> <br /> <strong>Did you always work in organic/biodynamic and as a non interventionist in the cellar?</strong><br /> <br /> The first time I drank a&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Natural WIne" title="708">natural wine</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> it put me in the same state as Bernadette Soubirous in front of the Virgin Mary. A year later, I was attempting my first &quot;100% grape&quot;&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Vinification" title="1104">vinifaction</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Working organically became an evidence to me a few months later. Ever since, I visit <glossary term="Villié-Morgon" title="1091">Villi&eacute;-Morgon</glossary> every year the way some go to Lourdes; there aren&#39;t any miracles, but there&#39;s certainly joy for me!<br /> <br /> <strong>What&#39;s your take on the &quot;natural wine&quot; debate?</strong><br /> <br /> I think it&#39;s an error to defend <glossary term="Natural WIne" title="708">natural&nbsp;wine</glossary> to the customer based on how it was made. The end result should suffice. On the other hand, it is necessary to to lobby around this type of production to defend it against an industry that dreams of seeing it disappear. We can validate working &quot;naturally&quot; with a minimum of &quot;politics&quot; and a whole lot of good wine.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>What do you like to drink?</strong><br /> <br /> No limits of region, country, price or notoriety. My favorite wines are the the ones where the bottle is empty in less than five&nbsp;minutes.</p>

harvest report

<p>As the year comes to an end and the rhythm in the <glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary> and the vines is slowing down, we wanted to give you a recap of what happened this year at Tue-Boeuf.&nbsp; 2021 is a particular year, the damages have been notable and the <glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary> is rather empty for a month of November. This phenomenon is unfortunately not isolated but rather in the context of a global deregulation of weather, forcing us to modify our practices and entirely rethink our temporality in working the vines. Fully aware of the ever increasing risks of spring&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Frost" title="1135">frosts</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> we had <glossary term="Pruning" title="834">pruned</glossary> as late as possible and felt we had been successful in this maneuver.</p> <p>Despite our best efforts, 2021&#39;s <glossary term="Frost" title="1135">frosts</glossary> destroyed everything&nbsp;we&#39;d put forward at the end of winter. In many ways we are lucky that the majority of the vines we work are surrounded by woods: the <glossary term="Biodiversity" title="1162">biodiversity</glossary> is primordial for their health. But it also complicates things a lot with <glossary term="Frost" title="1135">frost</glossary>; in April, like many others we suffered a <glossary term="Frost" title="1135">frost</glossary> snap that lasted almost a week with temperatures getting as low as -8&deg;. This destroyed 100% of the vines&#39;&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Bud" title="206">buds</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> &nbsp;It was clear that anything we&#39;ve tried up to this point will never be enough to rectify the problem. Despite the all nighters we pulled, it was estimated we&#39;d lost 80 to 100% depending on the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcels</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p>The spring season and its weather did not helps matters. 13 <glossary term="Contact Treatment" title="328">treatments</glossary> were necessary (versus four in 2020) to preserve the little bit of grapes we had left after the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Frost" title="1135">frost</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> And even so, <glossary term="Mildew" title="1137">mildew</glossary> diminished our micro-crop even more. This meant that <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary> was sadly a very quick one and unsurprisingly produced much less than 2020. On top of everything we had to pick in the rain and earlier than we would have liked for risk of losing everything. We averaged 7<glossary term="hl/ha" title="528">hl/h</glossary> against the 40 to 45 we&#39;d hope for in a normal year. We <glossary term="Blend" title="168">blended</glossary> the <glossary term="Cheverny" title="283">Cheverny</glossary> Rouge parcels of Gravotte, Cailli&egrave;re and Rouillon simply to fill a single&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span> <glossary term="Vat/Tank" title="1140">vat</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> This means there will only be one <glossary term="Cheverny" title="283">Cheverny</glossary> Rouge and without a <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> name. All the other single <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> wines will be made in tiny quantities.&nbsp;</p> <p>Our long term relationships with <glossary term="Viticulture" title="1103">viticulturists</glossary> in the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cher" title="282">Vall&eacute;e du Cher</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> many over 15 years old, have permitted us to partly compensate for the <glossary term="Frost" title="1135">frost</glossary> impacting our <glossary term="Estate" title="427">estate</glossary> more and more frequently. While many were themselves affected by&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Frost" title="1135">frost</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> we nonetheless were able to to pick some nice grapes from our region. Some <glossary term="Vigneron/Vignaiolo" title="1089">vignerons</glossary> friends also helped us source <glossary term="Organic" title="746">organic</glossary> grapes from their respective regions, including <glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenache</glossary> and <glossary term="Carignan" title="237">Carignan</glossary> from the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Roussillon" title="880">Roussillon</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary term="Gamay" title="478">Gamay</glossary> from the <glossary term="Beaujolais" title="151">Beaujolais</glossary> and <glossary term="Chenin Blanc" title="281">Chenin</glossary> from <glossary term="Vouvray" title="1121">Vouvray</glossary> (the latter being in its&#39; first year of <glossary term="Conversion" title="332">organic conversion</glossary>). In the end, with purchased fruit and our own micro&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary><span>,</span></span></span></span></span> we have roughly 50% of what we can usually offer.&nbsp;</p> <p>With an important percentage of grapes being <glossary term="Second Growth" title="937">second growths</glossary> (post<span class="zalup"><span><span>-</span><glossary term="Frost" title="1135">frost</glossary>)</span></span> and a hurried <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary> due to the rain, we can&#39;t claim that 2021 will shine with its excess of <glossary term="Maturation" title="639">maturity</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Concentration" title="324">concentration</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Honestly we&#39;re ok with that following a streak of solar&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Vintage" title="1109">vintages</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> The <glossary term="Alcoholic Fermentation" title="87">alcoholic fermentations</glossary> happened without a hitch and the <glossary term="Malolactic Fermentation" title="622">malos</glossary> are finishing slowly. The wines are precise, bright and vivacious with <glossary term="alcoholic potential" title="1381">potentials</glossary> around 11% and 12%. We&#39;re not exactly sure how the &quot;new&quot; wines from grapes from other regions are going to be&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Blend" title="168">blended</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;</p> <p>Thank you for following us across the years and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Vintage" title="1109">vintages</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;</p> <p>Louise, Zo&eacute; and Thierry</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//905/91/98/9198d9297b54f6b9e6a045577d2b741e.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//905/43/44/4344fa8bf8d2bfa081c355673e76ac53.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//905/1a/9e/1a9e382644b4af461b0852395038687d.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//905/61/f6/61f6b00246367b55a2705a8981f66c96.jpg" /></p>

article

<p><em>This article was originally posted as Part 5 of &quot;The Didier Diaries&quot;, a deep dive into Jules&#39; experience harvesting at Clos Roche Blanche&#39;s last vintage.</em></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//5f/b5/5fb57d0d8bc6bad7547e7f609c263498.jpg" /></p> <p>The evening of the <glossary term="Remontage/Pumping Over" title="850">remontage</glossary> and visit with Val&eacute;rie Forgues, Didier told me there would be little to do for a few days and that I should take advantage of them to visit other growers. I had a loose itinerary of people to see, and the following morning I called Thierry Puzelat on his cell.</p> <p><em>&quot;We&#39;re actually on our last day of harvest. Wanna come?&quot;</em></p> <p>The answer was an obvious YES!!!!!! When I pulled into&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Les Montils" title="591">Les Montils</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> Thierry was loading the just-harvested <glossary term="Menu Pineau/Orbois" title="1464">Menu Pineau</glossary> from the Brin de Ch&egrave;vre <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> into the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Bladder Press" title="162">press</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Kyp_XLsbbzo" width="640"></iframe></p> <p>From&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Pressing" title="827">press</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> it goes into a <glossary term="Débourbage" title="379">d&eacute;bourbage</glossary> <glossary term="Concrete" title="325">concrete</glossary> <glossary term="Vat/Tank" title="1140">tank</glossary> before being <glossary term="Racking/Soutirage" title="843">racked</glossary> into&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Barrel" title="142">barrel</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//46/2f/462faf181d62d5fb3fb3a15df469ce9f.jpg" /></p> <p><glossary term="Débourbage" title="379">D&eacute;bourbage</glossary> translates to &quot;racking off the <glossary term="Gross Lees" title="515">gross lees</glossary>&quot;, which is apt because they are in fact quite gross:</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//f3/57/f357fe61f3aaee0aa3e88b57fc700c00.jpg" /></p> <p>It looks like a honey-mustard factory. Yuck.</p> <p>Thierry&#39;s <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary> began on September 19th and would finish on the day I showed up, October 6th. After lunch with the harvest team, we grabbed our sheers and drove over the a <glossary term="-Select term-" title="">parcel</glossary> of <glossary term="Old Vines" title="740">old vine</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Romorantin" title="867">Romorantin</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> the oldest being planted in 1905!</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//38/6f/386f5d6a0a1033e4bb61f6ec5eedbef9.jpeg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//9c/80/9c808be58cf79f2aedaa3c62b1ccfcb2.jpeg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//d8/db/d8dbd6fc77023b9678c9f6aaa3ef21ad.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//f9/53/f953634889d9c5e792753a39f016a540.jpg" /></p> <p><em>&quot;This is the highest </em><glossary term="Yield" title="1129"><em>yields</em></glossary><em> we&#39;ve ever seen here.&quot;</em></p> <p>The grapes were indeed plentiful and magnificent.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//57/3b/573ba324568685907dd8f5e56d9c3d72.jpg" /></p> <p>Thierry was getting in the mix.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//dd/76/dd763722ba98937e6e720bd9b3128788.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//c8/9a/c89adbbadf87d639c8f2d5d2ea55eebd.jpg" /></p> <p>Everything was going great for the first ten minutes. Then, in a bold move of over-confidence, I went for a bunch hidden behind some leaves and cut my finger pretty bad! Much to my surprise, Thierry had a first aid kit and patched me up so I could continue working.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//bb/c5/bbc5555041a7c54fb47a8a89d78d588b.jpg" /></p> <p>I debated putting up a picture of my extremely bloody hand, but decided that while profanity and nudity (mostly in the form of absurd paintings) is ok, I draw the line at gore.</p> <p>Harvesting took about an hour and half, and we couldn&#39;t have finished at a better time since it started raining heavily just minutes after we&#39;d loaded all the grapes into the truck.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//c4/e6/c4e663c259ff07ec1d6c9a83ef187fef.jpeg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//a3/59/a3595eef9aeb3f79275003f02ba82e2f.jpeg" /></p> <p>After a short drive back to&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Les Montils" title="591">Les Montils</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> we went right to the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Bladder Press" title="162">press</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//24/f7/24f7353ab19dce77e518304505f70eee.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//4f/fb/4ffbe4c78104ba0a5a14509be8798a08.jpeg" /></p> <p>Unloading the grapes took about 20 minutes, and the <glossary term="Pressing" title="827">press</glossary> lasts 2:30 to 3 hours depending on the load. Once again, the juice was <glossary term="Racking/Soutirage" title="843">racked</glossary> to a <glossary term="Débourbage" title="379">d&eacute;bourbage</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Vat/Tank" title="1140">tank</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> this time much smaller.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//73/24/73246e360fc47cf57118bf33fc7f3146.jpg" /></p> <p>The <glossary term="Romorantin" title="867">Romorantin</glossary> we harvested will have to be labeled&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span> <glossary term="Vin de France" title="1092">Vin de France</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> as it lies just outside of the <glossary term="Cour-Cheverny" title="352">Cour-Cheverny</glossary> <glossary term="AOC" title="108">AOC</glossary> limits. Thierry was making it under the Puzelat-Bonhomme label for years, but in 2014 it will be a Tue-Boeuf wine.</p> <p>In the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> an employee was testing the sugar/<glossary term="Acidity" title="71">acidity</glossary>/<glossary term="PH" title="783">PH</glossary> of the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Menu Pineau/Orbois" title="1464">Menu Pineau</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//24/76/2476bb305be57b908ee18a2e4d91dabc.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//4d/1e/4d1e2a2d13fcb6992da49c8b0489a300.jpg" /></p> <p>While the team celebrated the end of harvest, Thierry and I tasted some juices.</p> <p>&quot;P&#39;tit Blanc&quot; 2014 had a few grams of sugar left, and was in full&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Malolactic Fermentation" title="622">malo</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p>&quot;P&#39;tit Buisson&quot; 2014 had way more sugar&nbsp;but tasted good.</p> <p><em>&quot;Once you&#39;re about 2/3rds done with </em><glossary term="Fermentation" title="441"><em>fermentation</em></glossary><em>, you can start tasting </em><glossary term="Aromatic" title="120"><em>aromatic</em></glossary><em> complexities.&quot;</em></p> <p>&quot;Frileuse&quot; is an <glossary term="Blend" title="168">assemblage</glossary> of Fi&eacute; Gris (a strain of <glossary term="Sauvignon Blanc" title="927">Sauvignon</glossary>) planted in 1998 and <glossary term="Chardonnay" title="271">Chardonnay</glossary> planted from <glossary term="Selection Massale" title="941">massale</glossary> in 1967. We tried two separate&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Barrel" title="142">barrels</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p><em>&quot;The </em><glossary term="Maturation" title="639"><em>maturities</em></glossary><em> in each </em><glossary term="Barrel" title="142"><em>barrel</em></glossary><em> are about a week apart, and they bring balance to each other.&quot;</em></p> <p>The first was denser and richer, the second more tense and bright.</p> <p>We then tried the the &quot;Brin de Ch&egrave;vre&quot; that had been <glossary term="Pressing" title="827">pressed</glossary> just hours earlier.</p> <p><em>&quot;A slight </em><glossary term="Oxidation" title="754"><em>oxidation</em></glossary><em> on the juice means you won&#39;t have any on the wine. It&#39;s a guarantee that it can handle it from an early stage. The brown color will be gone in five&nbsp;days.&quot;</em></p> <p>Then we tried the 2014 &quot;Vin de France&quot; <glossary term="Gamay" title="478">Gamay</glossary> which is made with a 100%&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Carbonic Maceration" title="236">carbonic maceration</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> It was in full <glossary term="Malolactic Fermentation" title="622">malolactic fermentation</glossary> and had a muddy, murky color. The <glossary term="Malic Acid" title="1247">malic acid</glossary> tasted awful.</p> <p><em>&quot;It&#39;s pretty gross right? Once it&#39;s finished, it softens up considerably.&quot;</em></p> <p>I asked Thierry if he gets much from tasting the juice.</p> <p><em>&quot;For me, it&#39;s about tasting if the juice is pure and in good shape. As I mentioned earlier the </em><glossary term="Aromatic" title="120"><em>aromatic</em></glossary><em> complexities come later. For now it&#39;s about making sure the juices are in good shape and to spot any potential issues before they become insurmountable.&quot;</em></p> <p>The last two wines I tried were a special new experiment, <glossary term="Menu Pineau/Orbois" title="1464">Menu Pineau</glossary> and <glossary term="Pinot Noir" title="805">Pinot Noir</glossary> from Cailli&egrave;re made in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Kwevri/Qveri" title="1287">qveri</glossary><span>!</span></span></span> They were totally wild and tasted nothing like what you&#39;d expect from a Tue-Boeuf wine. Both spent six months <glossary term="Maceration" title="610">on the skins</glossary> and were <glossary term="Bottling" title="185">bottled</glossary>&nbsp;without&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Sulfites" title="993">S02</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Thierry showed me the 2014&#39;s, which were still&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Fermentation" title="441">fermenting</glossary><span>:</span></span></span></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//15/c3/15c36eb4ca246ce55938e742aa372cf9.jpg" /><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//ac/7e/ac7e750060f6530232a3df1a085f8826.jpg" /></p> <p>Oh and the soon to be available &quot;Cailli&egrave;re&quot; 2013 (three&nbsp;week&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Maceration" title="610">maceration</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> 10 months in <glossary term="Barrel" title="142">barrel</glossary>) is absolutely delicious.</p> <p>We then joined the harvesters and hung out until really late.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2020_Sep_22//c4/95/c4955c63e220b7d58ce84d650eb0d64d.jpg" /></p>

producers visit

<p><em><strong>This visit to Clos du Tue-Beouf took place in July, 2013.</strong></em></p> <p><em><strong>Words by Jules Dressner, photos by Maya Pedersen and John Kafarski.</strong></em></p> <p><img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/WP_20130625_016.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> Puzelat time! After a quick hello with Thierry and Jean-Marie, we headed straight to the&nbsp;Clos du Tue-Boeuf, the <glossary term="Lieu-Dit" title="594">lieu-dit</glossary> the <glossary term="Estate" title="427">estate</glossary> is named after. The first part of the <glossary term="Clos" title="305">clos</glossary> we visited were the three <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcels</glossary> that go into the &quot;Gravotte&quot;&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cuvée" title="363">cuv&eacute;e</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_100333.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_100336.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> The three <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plots</glossary> total one&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectare</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Thierry <glossary term="Blending" title="1146">blends</glossary> them together because of similarities in their soil composition: a&nbsp;small <glossary term="Coteau" title="345">coteau</glossary> of eroded <glossary term="Clay" title="301">clay</glossary> and <glossary term="Flint/Silex" title="455">flint</glossary> with shallow, <glossary term="Chalk" title="266">chalky</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Limestone" title="596">limestone</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> all planted in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Pinot Noir" title="805">Pinot Noir</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_101000.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> The vines are 36 years old.&nbsp;Thierry&nbsp;recently ripped out a bunch of very old <glossary term="Chardonnay" title="271">Chardonnay</glossary> and <glossary term="Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio" title="803">Pinot Gris</glossary> in the same area to replant <glossary term="Pinot Noir" title="805">Pinot Noir</glossary> (all from&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Selection Massale" title="941">massale</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> sourced from the&nbsp;Cailli&egrave;re and Gravotte, Herv&eacute; Villemade&#39;s&nbsp;Ardilles&nbsp;<glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> and <a href="http://domaine-prieure-roch.com/en/">Prieur&eacute;-Roch</a>).<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_101607.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> This will effectively double &quot;Gravotte&quot;&#39;s production in coming years.<br /> <br /> Just a little further, the <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plots</glossary> that produce &quot;Cailli&egrave;re&quot; awaited us. These are also planted exclusively in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Pinot Noir" title="805">Pinot Noir</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_101210.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_101226.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_102356.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> The soils here are composed of red, <glossary term="Sand" title="909">sandy</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Clay" title="301">clay</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_101416.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> As you can see from the pictures above and below, they are much less absorbent than the Gravotte sector.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_101219.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> Still marching onwards, we crossed this little path to check out some&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Sauvignon Gris" title="928">Sauvignon Gris</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_102522.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_102737.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_102747.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> When I pointed out that the whole area felt extremely closed off, Thierry explained:<br /> <br /> <em>&quot;The land costs nothing here so we bought everything around us to keep the trees and ensure nothing would ever get cut down. We didn&#39;t want to lose the </em><glossary term="Biodiversity" title="1162"><em>biodiversity</em></glossary><em>.&quot;</em><br /> <br /> The <glossary term="Sauvignon Rose" title="1201">Sauvignon Rose</glossary> here was planted in 1998, when Ren&eacute; Mosse used to work at the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Estate" title="427">estate</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> The <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plot</glossary>&nbsp;used to be woods, which Thierry&#39;s team cut down before planting the following Spring.<br /> <br /> Some older <glossary term="Gamay" title="478">Gamay</glossary> used to be planted here as well, but Thierry recently ripped them out.<br /> <br /> <em>&quot;They were shitty </em><glossary term="Clones" title="304"><em>clones</em></glossary><em> from the 70&#39;s. They had poor vegetal matter and were always sick.&quot;</em><br /> <br /> <glossary term="Gamay" title="478">Gamay</glossary> will be re-planted here in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Selection Massale" title="941">massale</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> From the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Sauvignon Blanc" title="927">Sauvignon</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> we took a quick drive upwards, which eventually led us to the <glossary term="Lieu-Dit" title="594">lieu-dit</glossary>&nbsp;Frileuse.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_104553.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_104603.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_110953.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_111015.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> If you haven&#39;t noticed yet, many of the Tue-Boeuf <glossary term="Cuvée" title="363">cuv&eacute;es</glossary> are made from <glossary term="Lieu-Dit" title="594">lieu-dits</glossary> within the <glossary term="Lieu-Dit" title="594">lieu-dit</glossary> of&nbsp;Clos du Tue-Boeuf.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Frileuse&nbsp;roughly translates to &quot;the little cold one&quot;.&nbsp;Unsurprisingly, it&#39;s the <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> that gets the coldest and <glossary term="Frost" title="1135">frost</glossary> is often an issue here. The soils are <glossary term="Clay" title="301">clay</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span> <glossary term="Flint/Silex" title="455">flint</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> and less compact than Gravotte. The site consists of two&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectares</glossary><span>:</span></span></span> one in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Sauvignon Blanc" title="927">Sauvignon</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> the other in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Chardonnay" title="271">Chardonnay</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> We then drove around for a while, passing by the <glossary term="Lieu-Dit" title="594">lieu-dit</glossary>&nbsp;Buisson Pouilleux, some of Pierre-O Bonhomme&#39;s recently purchased <glossary term="Touraine" title="1036">Touraine</glossary> vines, the&nbsp;Guerrerie&nbsp;<glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> and&nbsp;Brin de Ch&egrave;vre, a <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plot</glossary> of <glossary term="Old Vines" title="740">old vine</glossary> <glossary term="Menu Pineau/Orbois" title="1464">Menu Pineau</glossary> planted in 1934.<br /> <br /> <em>&quot;I work the very old </em><glossary term="Parcel" title="760"><em>parcels</em></glossary><em> by horse due to their fragility. A tractor easily rips them out of the ground or breaks them.&quot;</em><br /> <br /> Still talking about&nbsp;Brin de Ch&egrave;vre, Thierry explained that the windy climate, solid <glossary term="Clay" title="301">clay</glossary> and <glossary term="Menu Pineau/Orbois" title="1464">Menu Pineau</glossary> being&nbsp;late ripening, this is usually where they <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary> last.<br /> <br /> <em>&quot;This grape is super resistant. </em><glossary term="Esca" title="425"><em>Esca</em></glossary><em> has never been a problem and it resists </em><glossary term="Mildew" title="1137"><em>mildew</em></glossary><em>. The three really local varieties -</em><glossary term="Menu Pineau/Orbois" title="1464"><em>Menu Pineau</em></glossary><em>, </em><glossary term="Romorantin" title="867"><em>Romorantin</em></glossary><em> and </em><glossary term="Pineau d'Aunis" title="799"><em>Pineau d&#39;Auni</em></glossary><em>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Pineau d'Aunis" title="799">s</glossary><span>-</span></span></span> are always the most resistant to illness. </em><glossary term="Gamay" title="478"><em>Gamay</em></glossary><em> and </em><glossary term="Sauvignon Blanc" title="927"><em>Sauvignon</em></glossary><em> have only been planted here for 100 years, and they are always sick. This is why we&#39;ve started replanting only these old varieties.&quot;</em><br /> <br /> Still driving around, we passed a <glossary term="Gamay" title="478">Gamay</glossary> <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> where Olivier Lemasson was working. It would have been rude not to say hello, so we did.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_112845.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> This <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary>&nbsp;is planted on a very similar <glossary term="Terroir" title="1026">terroir</glossary> to&nbsp;Frileuse.<br /> <br /> After an extensive tour of the vines, it was time to taste, which didn&#39;t take very long since their is so little wine in 2012. Here&#39;s a picture of the TOTAL production of &quot;Frileuse&quot;.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_120320.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> That&#39;s right, three&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Barrel" title="142">barrels</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> It tasted good. Additionally, there is only one barrel of &quot;Buisson Pouilleux&quot;, which also tasted good.<br /> <br /> An exceptional ros&eacute; was produced in 12:<br /> <br /> <em>&quot;We decided to make </em><glossary term="Rosé/Rosato" title="871"><em>ros&eacute;</em></glossary><em> because many </em><glossary term="Parcel" title="760"><em>parcels</em></glossary><em> were </em><glossary term="Hail" title="1136"><em>hailed</em></glossary><em> on. The </em><glossary term="Tannin" title="1010"><em>tannins</em></glossary><em> would have made the wine too harsh for a red.&quot;</em><br /> <br /> Also, the little bit of &quot;Guerrerie&quot;&nbsp;<glossary term="Gamay" title="478">Gamay</glossary> harvested was consolidated into &quot;La Butte&quot;.<br /> <br /> After the&nbsp;tasting, we headed to the famed&nbsp;<glossary term="L'Herbe Rouge" title="568">L&#39;Herbe Rouge</glossary>&nbsp;with Thierry, Jean-Marie, Pierre-O Bonhomme and Olivier Lemasson for lunch. This happened:<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_125126.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> And this:<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_133912.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> And this:<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/20130625_140814.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> We also ate some good food, but that&#39;s inconsequential. Points of conversation included:<br /> <br /> -A lot of growers working <glossary term="Conventional Farming" title="331">conventionally</glossary> are slowly going out of business, as evidenced by Olivier Lemasson being able to buy old vine&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Malbec" title="366">C&ocirc;t</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary term="Gamay" title="478">Gamay</glossary> and <glossary term="Grolleau" title="513">Grolleau</glossary>&nbsp;from guys who have quit over the last 10 years.<br /> <br /> -The Puzelat-Bonhomme <glossary term="Négociant" title="729">n&eacute;goce</glossary> will change to Domaine Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme as of the 2013&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Vintage" title="1109">vintage</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> This has been years in the making: Jean-Marie is a few years away from retiring&nbsp;and Thierry, who will now be alone at Tue-Boeuf, has decided to focus his energy entirely on his family <glossary term="Estate" title="427">estate</glossary> (on top of his importing business and running a successful wine bar in Orl&eacute;ans). Pierre-O made many of the 2011 wines and all of the 2012 wines on his own;&nbsp;both parties feel that he is ready to step up to the plate. Fan favorites like &quot;Le Telquel&quot;, &quot;Rouge est Mis&quot;&nbsp;and the &quot;Tesni&egrave;re&quot; <glossary term="Pineau d'Aunis" title="799">Pineau d&#39;Aunis</glossary>&nbsp;will still be in full effect.<br /> <br /> -As of early 2013, <glossary term="Pineau d'Aunis" title="799">Pineau d&#39;Aunis</glossary> is officially <glossary term="Declassification" title="383">declassified</glossary> from use in the <glossary term="Touraine" title="1036">Touraine</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="AOC" title="108">AOC</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <em>&quot;If you start a new plantation in <glossary term="Sauvignon Blanc" title="927">Sauvignon</glossary> or&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Pinot Noir" title="805">Pinot Noir</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> you get a 10,000 euro subsidy from the minister of agriculture. If you plant&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Pineau d'Aunis" title="799">Pineau d&#39;Aunis</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> you get nothing.&quot;</em><br /> <br /> We also talked about the late Chistian Chaussaurd and Thierry&#39;s time as professors at the <glossary term="Viticulture" title="1103">viticultural</glossary> school of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Amboise" title="100">Amboise</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Cho-Cho was there for five&nbsp;years, Thierry for three.<br /> <br /> <em>&quot;On our own we were bad enough, but the combination of the two of us is what got us fired!&quot;</em><br /> <br /> Apparently, telling people to use less <glossary term="Sulfites" title="993">sulfur</glossary> and <glossary term="Native Yeast" title="538">native yeasts</glossary> didn&#39;t go over too well...<br /> <br /> Here are some completely unrelated pictures of Thierry&#39;s new puppy Horatio.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/WP_20130625_033.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/WP_20130625_052.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> After lunch, Pierre-O drove us over to the really, really cool, 100+ year old&nbsp;Probili&egrave;re&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/WP_20130625_044.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/WP_20130625_047.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/WP_20130625_048.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> The soils here are composed of very fine <glossary term="Clay" title="301">clay</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span> <glossary term="Flint/Silex" title="455">flint</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/WP_20130625_045.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> Some of the vines here are <glossary term="Gamay" title="478">Gamay</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Teinturier" title="1017">Teinturier</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> one of the only red pulped grapes in the world.<br /> <br /> Some <glossary term="Marcottage" title="629">marcottage</glossary> was going on.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" src="http://louisdressner.com/lib/images/WP_20130625_046.jpg" test="test2" /><br /> <br /> The prior owner was pumping tons of <glossary term="Chemicals" title="279">chemicals</glossary> into the vines, and was getting up to 100 <glossary term="hl/ha" title="528">hl/ha</glossary> <glossary term="Yield" title="1129">yields</glossary> off of 12&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cane" title="232">canes</glossary><span>!</span></span></span>!! Pierre-O has <glossary term="Conversion" title="332">converted</glossary> the <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> to&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Organic" title="746">organics</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> reduced the amounts of <glossary term="Cane" title="232">canes</glossary> to six&nbsp;and had 40 <glossary term="hl/ha" title="528">hl/ha</glossary> <glossary term="Yield" title="1129">yields</glossary> in 2011.</p>

harvest report

<p><u><strong>From a Phone Conversation with Joe Dressner:</strong></u></p> <p>I spoke with Thierry Puzelat today. He was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the crop at Clos du Tue Boeuf and at his <glossary term="Négociant" title="729">n&eacute;gociant</glossary> house, but bemoaned the small quantities. On the whole, they averaged a bit over 22 <glossary title="528">hectolitres/hectare</glossary> in vineyards where 40 <glossary title="528">hectolitres/hectare</glossary> would be a small harvest.</p> <p>It was a difficult growing season in the <glossary title="602">Loire</glossary> but the glorious weather in the last three weeks saved the <glossary title="521">harvest</glossary> and there will be some lovely wines, Thierry told me. At the same time, it will be financially difficult for him and his brother Jean-Marie as they will not be able to break even with such a small crop.<br /> <br /> Almost everyone I have spoken to in France the past two weeks has spoken about the small size of the 2007&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="521">harvest</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> This comes at a bad time for the American market. The dollar is very low, but European growers will be unable to make price concessions since they will have so little to sell and will be hurting from the small quantities available.<br /> <br /> <em>Joe Dressner</em></p>