Loren Tisserand - Terres de ROA
Auvergne, St Pourcain
It's been a while since we've had new wines from Loren at Terres de ROA, we're very pleased to have them back, ideal for this slow roll into Autumn.
2020 was kind to the Tisserand family in St Pourcain, with very little in the way of disease and damage, and fermentations that rocketed away. Plots were picked early to retain freshness in the late summer heatwaves that swept the region.
With just 17 winemakers in Saint Pourcain, the Tisserand's stand apart as the only family farming organically, with Loren now leading the charge into biodynamic practices and promoting the growth of wildflowers and herbs across their 11 hectares.
Supplément d’Âme is 100% Gamay grown on sandy clay soils, with an 11 day semi-carbonic maceration, aged in steel tank for 5 months. Dans L'Absolu is their direct-pressed 60/40 blend of Tressalier & Chardonnay, a showcase for the merits of this rare variety.
We've also been able to get our hands on some of Loren's Reflet d’Âme: from 25 year old Pinot Noir on soils composed of gneiss, schist and granite. A powerful, complex Pinot we'll be turning to as the evenings lengthen.
An Interview with Loren, March 2021
In March of this year Basile & Alexandra travelled the short distance south from Muscadet to visit Loren in St Pourcain, before continuing to Burgundy. Alex was able to sit down to ask a few questions:
How was 2020 for you?
Good overall, we didn't have any frost, but we did have a big heat during the summer months. We have harvested end of August as we had to start with a parcel that was suffering from the heat, the grapes had to be picked asap. We usually harvest the third week of September, so this was early.
How do you vinify your wines? Do you follow a specific 'formula' or is it different for each cuvee?
It depends on the profile we want to give each wine, and the state of the grapes after harvest. For example in 2020 the fermentations went very fast. The balance between the amount of sugars and the PH was perfect, which was already a good start.
In 2018 and 2019 our vintages were rather high in alcohol, so for 2020 we aimed for lighter, easy drinking wines and it looks like we got our harvest timing just right to achieve that.
Would you say that there has been a clear trend towards warmer summers/ heat waves which then cause early harvests?
Definitely, I think that we haven't had a 'normal' year for about the last 5 or 6 years!
Last time we spoke you said you wanted to experiment with herbal treatments, have you tried any since then?
We use the 500 & 501 biodynamic treatments, and we've found that by promoting the growth of herbs and flowers in between the vines we minimise the chances of frost damage, as they attract the humidity. I've had a clear proof of this as we've had a couple of plots with and without wildflowers, the ones without were hit harder.
You told us that you would be downsizing in the near future, how many hectares are you farming at the moment?
We originally started out with 9ha, which are ours. We then rented out an additional 8ha, but the contract was coming to an end and we were not able to renew it. The owner wanted to sell the land. These 8ha in Saint-Pourçain were important to us as they included Tressalier and Pinot Noir on granitic soils. But now we have managed to find another 2ha of Tressalier on granitic soils which we were happy about, so we are at a total of 11ha.
Are there any winemakers who particularly inspire you?
Yes, Marie Therese Chappaz from Switzerland. She's an icon for me! I know her well. Besides that, my good friend Vincent Alexis!
