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| Les INROCKUPTIBLES - Florent Marchet, musician |
Domaine Geoffrenet-Morval, vintage 2003, Chateaumeillant.
I love to drink the history of my region, Berry. It is incredible, a single grape variety (the gamay) which blossoms on a sand-lime soil. It is the soil which has the last word in all ways. Fabien, the winegrower, has given back panache to a wine which had the reputation of being a happy cheap and nasty wine, a sacred but not very enjoyable wine. Now it is a worthy wine of dignity without doubt, a wine from the oak barrel, full bodied with red fruit and a definite strength, especially good for drinking in the evening. He is to the wine industry that which Jeffrey Lewis is to the record industry.
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| CUISINE ET VINS DE FRANCE - The finds of the moment. |
One doesn't buy wines of Chateaumeillant unless one is a local, passionate for the wine and courageous. That this vineyard of 81 hectares between Cher and Indre, classed in VDQS has not yet the reality of a fanclub but the price stays very low for that of a dental practitioner who offers 1 hectare of old vines. Just as Fabien Geoffrenet has been educated at Beaune, he has chosen to bank on the land. He pampers his gamays, harvesting his grapes in caskets which, after a light carbon soaking, make the vintage Jeanne, very perfumed (cherry; spices). Silky mouthed, well-rounded with a peppery finalé. How does one drink it? With all poultry cooked with extra spices to enhance the flavour of the wine.
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| GAULT et MILLAUT n° 356 - Septembre 2002 - Alain Nonnet : La Cognette at Issoudun |
[...] The chief forerunner at Chateaumeillant 2001 Geoffrenet-Morval. Its' dark dress surprises, the fruitiness is very sustained punctuated with mineral notes and is a truly lovely experience.
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| LA REVUE DU VIN DE FRANCE - The 2000 best wines of France 2005 |
Domaine Geoffrenet-Morval - Jeanne - Red - Rare selection of old fat gamay grapes, well-fruited: - 5,80 euros
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| LA REVUE DU VIN DE FRANCE - HS - Nos. 1500 best bottles of the year. |
Chateaumeillant; Compte de Barcelona 2004. A nose of peach syrup, very juicy mouthed, rounded without heaviness. It is deliciously drunk. A coup for the new domaine and its' rosé.
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| LA NOUVELLE REPUBLIQUE - March 2002 - GASTRONOMIE : Saint-Ambroix, chapitre IX |
Bravo, Chateaumeillant. Of the quality, the vintage ‘Jeanne’ 2001 of Fabien Geoffrenet-Morval, reaffirming all the good that one already thinks about this newcomer to Chateaumeillant at the time of the selection of samples. This will be the coup of this newest chapter.
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| GUIDE HACHETTE |
Guide 2006 :
Dom. Geoffrent-Morval
Vintage Original Version 2004 **
1,5 ha - 4500 - 5 to 8 euros
In only 4 years, Fabien Geoffrenet has increased his vineyard from 50a to 7hectares. His production is the highest of his ambitions as is testified by this selection of 3 wines. This vintage embalms the fields with its' aromas of armoise shaded with spices. Suptle in attack, it reveals some austere tanning but which does not interfere with the harmonious ensemble. The vintage Compte de Barcelona Rosé 2004 harvests a star and the vintage Jeanne Vieilles Vignes Red 2004 is cited.
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| The Red and the White 2005 - No.79 Red 2004 Vintage Jeanne - Old Wines Domaine Fabien Geoffrenet |
7 independant vineyards, a co-operative cellar (60% of the local production) and two wine producing syndicates share the 90 hectares of vineyards of Chateaumeillant which group together 8 communities of Cher and Indre in an AOVDQS created in 1965. Cited of 580 by Grégoire de Tours, Chateaumeillant, and has won it's reputation with it's rosé wine made from gamay in immediate pressing. Today the red wine has overtaken it. (two-thirds of the production).The ensemble of the wine producing network nevertheless succeeded in drawing-up a common pricelist in the hope of soon accessing the AOC.
It is difficult to make a fortune from the vineyards at Chateaumeillant through passion - that Fabien Geoffrenet, ex-dental practitioner converted to winemaking. At his cellar what attracts one's attention is the blue - the blue shutters of the house, the blue flowers which climb the length of the facade, to the blue of the floor of the stockroom. Well one can ask oneself if indeed he is not green. Very quickly his intentions are reaffirmed. He highly and strongly claims his winemaking artisan status and wants to prove that one can live in that rural setting outside the food industry system and in a durable agricultural prospective.
His winemaking journey is classical, obtaining a BPREA (Responsible for the running of Agriculture) at Beaune in 1997, practically staged at Menetou-Salon at Bertrand Minchin's, purchasing 46 ares in 2000. Today he is proprietor of 7 hectares in the commune of Chateaumeillant. His vintage Jeanne 2004 - 90% Gamay and 10% Pinot Noir of vines 50 years of age - has been noticed for it's gourmand side and it's pretty register of red fruits (raspberry; cherry) and of spices, it's structure and finalé of licorice and pepper. It is, of course, a wine of immediate pleasure, but with a blast-off which expressly highlights the land by the peppery notes. A casserole of wildboar would be a perfect accompaniment. With his younger wines (original version) they suggest also, but more discreetly; a more spicey character. As to the question of the land at Chateaumeillant - it is sedimentary sand-lime soil on a distortion of the original rock composed of gneiss, schistes and micaschistes.
Fabien Geoffrenet decided to debud his vines, but he limits the treatments. The harvest is effected manually in clusters and then goes into the vats on elevator belts to limit the handling of them. The fermentation lasts about 8 days. After 6 months in stainless steel vats the wine is put into bottles.
At present this apt Berrichon from Bourges esteems himself to be serious, and he reflects this in a biological direction. His sincerity, his persistence, his concern to
detail and his vision of work have necessitated the rapid drive to produce more complex wines. But already he can permit himself to ‘look his clients' in the eyes’ without blushing, for his wines already cure so well the ailments of the soul!
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| LA NOUVELLE REPUBLIQUE : Fabien geoffrenet - Wine artisan |
For 20 years Fabien Geoffrenet made false teeth. Nowadays it is his wine which he puts in your mouth. A revolutionary redeployment which he alone had not considered.
I moved on from a craftsman's skill which during 20 years allowed me to express myself, to another craftsman's skill, making wine. In the year 2000, introduced to Chateaumeillant by his friend Pierre Picot; Fabien dipped his toe into winegrowing bu buying a half hectare of old vines at Chateaumeillant. The following year he enterprisingly re-allocated several pieces of land for planting young vines. Between purchases of vines and plantations at the top of which is 7 hectares, 3.45 hectares of these being devoted to young vines, the last of which came into production the autumn of 2005. In this prospective, Fabien gave up his Berry laboratory for false teeth in March 2004, in order to devote himself totally to his new passion, but also by way of simplifying his life a little. His business was at Bourges, his home at Venesme (he is involved with the restarting of local vineyards) and his vineyards at Chateaumeillant. He remains, nevertheless, very occupied with the work in the vineyards: the enlargement of the locals of ‘La Bidoire’ village winegrowers of Chateaumeillant and marketing. I have not the time to get bored.
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| LE BERRY REPUBLIQUAIN : A grand future at Chateaumeillant. |
Revealed at the time of Chapitre Saint-Ambroix edition 2002, Fabien Geoffrenet-Morval, following his Chateaumeillant tranquil lifestyle. This year, there are two of his wines which have been selected, the Chateaumeillant rosé vintage Compte de Barcelona and the Chateaumeillant red vintage Original Version. The amateur who shines and was previously a dental practitioner is in the process of distinguishing himself ‘a great’ by the murmuring of the specialists. Forget the local praises at the time of the first grape harvest, today the winemaker acquired a building which he restored and increased his ownership and possession to 7 hectares - 5 planted with gamay; 2 with pinot noir. Admittedly the production remains modest with 3200 litres per hectare on average; but the young vines are promising........It is because of that the wines of Fabien have been retained by the Jallerat family, for the Paulée of wines of the Loire to the Grand Monarque at Chartres (Eure-et-Loir) A good sign for the rosé of Chateaumeillant which ' if it could take-off would do well in the economic local pool' explained the shy thirty-year-old.
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