In preparation of the forthcoming Loire Valley Tour 2024 by ombiasy WineTours, Annette and I spent 2 nights in Angers in order to visit various wine fairs.
Salons des Vins - with a Focus on Natural, Organic, Biodynamic and Low Intervention Wines - in Angers and Samour
There were several wine fairs in the region in early February. At least 3 are noteworthy and we went to 2 of them:
(1) The Salon des Vins Grenier Saint Jean, a wine fair with natural wine producers at the Le Grenier Saint Jean in Angers.
250 producers. I guess 25% of the producers were from the Loire, 50% from other French wine regions and 25% from other European countries, including 4 producers from Germany. The fair took place in 2 large halls.
(2) Salon Angers Loire dégusT’
The Salon Angers Loire degusT' 2024 - with about 600 producers - consisted of 3 salons des vins:
Salon des Vins Demeter (100 demeter certified producers), La Levée de la Loire (300 bio producers) and Salon des Vins de Loire (200 regular producers).
(3) La Dive Bouteille in Saumur
We did not attend La Dive Bouteille, which bills itself as the world’s largest annual natural wine fair. But Kevin Pike of Schatzi Wines in the USA did.
While our focus was on producers from the region for the forthcoming Loire 2024 Tour by Ombiasy, we also made room in our schedule for meeting old friends and #worldclass producers from Germany and Austria showcasing their wines there: Peter Jakob Kühn, Meinklang - Werner Michlits, Frank John, Clemens Busch.
Weingut Clemens Busch in Angers
Picture: In Seattle, Washington State, in 2013, during the 4th Riesling Rendezvous: Clemens Busch, Christian Schiller and Hermann Wiemer, founder of Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyards in the Finger Lakes Region in New York State. See: The World of Riesling in Seattle - Fourth Riesling Rendezvous in Washington State, USA
Weingut Frank John in Angers
Weingut Frank John in Germany
Meinklang - Werner Michlitz in Angers
Pictures: At the Forefront of Biodynamic Winemaking: Visiting Werner and Angela Michlits and their Weingut Meinklang in Austria Weingut Peter Jakob Kühn in Angers
Picture: Christian Schiller and Peter Jakob Kühn in Kiedrich, Rheingau, see: Extraordinary Views of the Rheingau Vineyards - A Spectecular Helicopter Flight over the Rheingau with Rheingau Winemakers, Germany
See:
Germany’s Best Winemakers and Wines – Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland 2016 Awards: The Awards Ceremony in Mainz, Germany
See:
A Tasting at Weingut Peter Jakob Kühn, Rheingau, with Angela and Peter Jakob Kühn, Germany
See:
One of the Bio-dynamic Stars in Germany: Weingut Peter Jakob Kühn in Östrich, Winkel – Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)
Salon Angers Loire dégusT’
(February 5 and 6 in Angers)
The Salon Angers Loire degusT' 2024 - with about 600 producers - consisted of
3 salons des vins: Salon des Vins Demeter (100 demeter certified
producers), La Levée de la Loire (300 bio producers) and Salon des Vins de Loire (200 regular producers).
Weingut Rieger in Angers
Weingut Kühling-Gillot & Weingut Battenfeld Spanier in Angers
Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier in Germany
Weingut Kühling-Gillot in Germany
La Dive Bouteille
(February 4 and 5 in Saumur)
We did not attend La Dive Bouteille. Broken Palate (Jason Wilson 2020): I was thinking about dumb phases during my visit last week to the Loire Valley, where I attended La Dive Bouteille, which bills itself as the world’s largest annual natural wine fair. It’s held in the town of Saumur, with more than 200 natural winemakers from throughout Europe, pouring their wines deep in the labyrinthine, troglodyte cellar of Caves Ackerman.
The fair itself was fun. Natural wine has become its own subculture at this point and so the laziest of observations would be, “there are more tattoos and piercings and whatnot than at a usual wine fair!” Yes, duh. I found that myself and others, particularly the men, hewed to a certain natural wine uniform: beard and/or man bun, hoodie, flannel, beanie, shoes we believe to be cool. For lack of imagination, let’s call it the “aging skateboarder” look.
The atmosphere was different than a typical, staid wine fair where trade and journalists politely taste and spit and there’s usually a color-coded map with table numbers and professional signage. La Dive Bouteille is loud, dark, and you can barely read the hand-scrawled white posters with winery names taped to the walls. And people are drinking. At 6 o’clock, the entire fair takes over a wine bar in the center of Saumur called La Tonnelle.
See: Announcement: Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours (Sunday, June 09 - Thursday June 20, 2024)
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