The Cellar: Traveling Loire

Friday, November 07, 2014

Steffen Rasch, GoLocalWorcester Wine Writer

Frederik Niger Van Herck

One of the more memorable visits during my recent travels through the Loire Valley was with Frederik Niger Van Herck at Domaine de l’Ecu located in the town of Le Landreau in Loire Valley’s Musacdet sub-region. With the original proprietor Guy Bossard having recently taken a step closer to retirement, ‘Fred’, as he insist on being called, is now calling most of the shots at this highly regarded Domaine.

Top soil and sub soil

Domaine de l’Ecu has been a certified organic producer for more than 35 years and certified biodynamic for more than 15. Basically, what that means is that Guy and Fred consider their vineyards living organisms, not just a piece of land that is meant to yield fruit. They farm their 55 acres by hand and without the use of any chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides. Instead they ‘dynamise’ their plant and the surrounding environment (earth and air) by spraying with preparations made from natural ingredients. They also use natural compost containing manure, vegetable waste, soil and any other natural elements. Check out the ‘Biodynamics’ page on their web site. It’s quite amazing the lengths they go to keep things as natural, holistic and organic as possible.

Domaine de l’Ecu

Domaine de l’Ecu’s winery is basically a shed located in the middle of their vineyards. While not particularly fancy, this is arguably the best place to make wine as Fred uses endogenous yeasts during fermentation, i.e. the natural yeasts that live on the grapes, as well as those which constantly blow in the air over the vineyards. Many different vessels are used for fermentation including underground glass-lined concrete tanks, concrete and clay pots of varying size and shape, small and large oak barrels and of course stainless steel tanks. The video clip gives a tour of the winery and shows Chardonnay grapes fermenting away with Johann Sebastian Bach playing in the background. Yes, Fred plays Bach for his fermenting must.

Domaine de l’Ecu’s flagship wines are their three Muscadet ‘Sevre-et-Maine’ made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape and named after the three sub-soils that dominate the Estate vineyards; Gneiss, Orthogneiss and Granite. There are very distinct differences between these wines that are especially pronounced when you taste them side-by-side. While citrus fruit and mineral notes are found in all three wines (’13 vintage) the Gneiss was softer and more fragrant, the Granite razor sharp and flintier and the Orthogneiss more concentrated in fruit, displaying hints of spice as well.

While 2/3 of the production at Domaine de l’Ecu is dedicated to dry Muscadets Fred also makes other wines including a stunning mouth-puckeringly dry sparkling wine, an extended maceration ‘orange wine’ Chardonnay, as well as wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Franc and Pinot Noir. Finally, I have to mention their Folle Blanche based wine called ‘Gros Pet’. For those of you who have never heard about Folle Blanche let alone tasted one (usually labeled Gros Plant du Pays Nantais), imagine a mouthful of pure lemon juice, pennies and small driveway pebbles.

Ok maybe not that bad, but to be honest most Folle Blanche based wines are so dry and high in acid that the average wine consumer, especially here in the US, find them very difficult to drink. I probably tasted about a dozen Gros Plant during my travels – many of them good. Domaine de l’Ecu’s ‘Gros Pet’ was my absolute favorite. Fred ages this wine on the lees inside the underground tanks for 16 months allowing the acidity to mellow out just enough for the minerally, salty marine kelp, iodine and citrus notes to pop up. Outstanding example.

My visit to Domaine de l’Ecu was special, not only because I tasted some outstanding wines, but because I met a dedicated winemaker who is on the forefront of a movement I am a huge fan of: organic and biodynamic winemaking.

If you want to taste some of the great wines I have written about in the past few weeks make sure you sign up for the Loire Valley wine tasting at the Providence Wine Academy scheduled for December 14th.

Steffen Rasch is a Certified Sommelier and Specialist of Wine. Feel free to email him at [email protected] with any wine-related question or learn about wine in person by signing up for one of his tastings through the Providence Wine Academy.