Summer of Saint Pourcain

This summer, spearheaded by Terroir Wine Bar in Manhattan, acid hounds everywhere have declared the Summer of Riesling.  I salute them in their efforts to re-popularize and inform on this much maligned and altogether dynamic variety.  I promise to spread the word and pop a cork or two.

But I am on my own mission this year.  For me 2011 is the Summer of Saint Pourcain.  I am not expecting this to catch on, or even register, but bottle for bottle there is no denying this simple truth-I am drinking a lot of Saint Pourcain and loving it.

So what the heck is Saint Pourcain?  If you're like me, you may think you have heard of this obscure wine, even if you haven't.  There is something lovely and familiar in the ring of the words.  "Sure, Saint Pourcain...I think I love Saint Pourcain."  But it turned out I hadn't actually had a Saint Pourcain until I first tried the wines of Domaine Bellevue and Domaine Nebout with French wine brokers Peter Vezan and Elisabeth Villeminot.

Just like like the name, there is something lovely and familiar about the palate of Saint Pourcain.  With one foot in the white flowers and yellow fruit of the Macon and one foot in the flinty citrus of Sancerre, it is almost like being introduced by these familiar regions to one of their friends.  Initially, you seek out and sense only the common denominators...but the deeper you dig, the more you appreciate that there is something altogether unique and inviting about this newcomer.  Also this particular newcomer has been around since 1700.  Smack in the middle of France, this ancient region (among the oldest in France) only achieved AOC status in 2011 and is technically a part of the Loire Valley.  Known in its heyday to have graced the tables of Kings and the Popes of Avignon -the region fell victim as many did to the blight of Phylloxera and now, bloggers.

Among the altogether unique and inviting aspects of this region is the local variety known as Tressallier-"along the Allier."  Allier, if your familiar sense just went off, is the river traversing the center of France that lends its name also to the nearby Oak forest,  a la, "aged in new Allier Oak"     Believed to be related to Sacy, the last and only hectares are to be found in Saint Pourcain.  Of the 640 hectares of vines that stretch over the 19 villages that make up the appellation, only around 40 hectares are devoted to Tressalier.  Peter Vezan says, "Tressalier can have some of the hazelnut aromas of Chardonnay but...[it's] more citric and mineral than Chardonnay because of its acidity."

Chardonnay is also quite prevalent here, and the fashion is to support the Chardonnay with the bracing minerality of the Tressallier, resulting in an appealing, mouth watering style.  But in the Domaine Nebout Tressalier Gravieres the Tressalier makes up 90 to 100% of the blend, and as it happens-this is my personal favorite.    Since this is the case, I may be somewhat excused for the impression I have heretofore related, that Saint Pourcain is known only for its white wines.  Gamay and Pinot Noir are actually more prevalent than the white cultivars, and the region is known also for a young, fruity style of Gamay called Ficelle.  There is a large celebration after bottling the first Saturday in December and the wines are adorned with the colorful paintings of local artists.   Remind you of anything?  There is also an old, unverifiable oral history of an innkeeper, Gaultier, who while trying to keep his profits from being guzzled away down the throats of merrymakers,  devised a method of tracking wine consumption by plunging a knotted rope down the neck of the bottles at half pint and pint intervals.  There is a name for this rope, La Ficelle, and a gang...named after the rope, Les Compagnons de la Ficelle-a guild of experts dedicated to preserving the oral tradition and promoting the vineyards of what was once Saint Pourçain/Sioule.


So are you sure you never heard of Saint Pourcain?  Yeah, Me neither....



Domaine Nebout Tressallier des Gravières 2010
Village of Monétay, Argilo-siliceux.

Because I am not exactly impartial on this wine, I called in a finer palate(my husband, Max Evans of Downey Selections, to collaborate)...here is the combined take away:

 The nose is all under ripe kiwi, grapefruit, lemon, and lime zest.  There are undercurrents of petrol, flint, salt and waxiness. 

The palate is full and penetrating with fresh squeezed lime, lemon zest, lime pulp, kiwi, nectarines, and yellow fruit accented with chalk dust. 

Pairing testimony:  Out of this world with Charcoal Grilled Octopus with lemon, olive oil and oregano, Saffron Rice and Greek salad.

Domaine Grosbot Barbara Rouge Saint Pourcain 2009
This is a 100% Pinot Noir imported by Ed Addiss of Wine Traditions.



Sour cherries, tart pie cherries, sun dried tomatoes, red licorice, and something a bit tomato leaf/stemmy-beets?  New leather, black pepper, asphalt, salt, and iron-very bloody on the palate.  Big beef steak tomato with cracked black pepper and salt.  Deliciously salty medium bodied and round-chewy tannins without food-I would put this in the soulfully ripe and rustic category.  Probably not for everyone, but I love it!