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Guide
to the Loire regions
Saint-Pourçain
Grower
Profiles

Evelyne
Prélot
Robert
Prélot
Robert Prélot and his charming
wife, Evelyne, live in a lovely old maison
Bourbonnais on the road that connects Salucet with Saint-Pourçain.
It’s position is not particularly distinguished, being on the floor of
the valley and the 50 hectares of land that surrounds the farm has been
planted to cereals for as long as anyone can remember. But Robert’s
passion for wine led him to re-establish 4.5 hectares of vines in 1987 and
open up the cellar doors ready to receive the first harvest in 1990.
Unsurprisingly, the vines are not within sight of the farm, but located in
Contigny and on the slopes of Briailles on the opposite bank of the Sioule.
Here, Gamay and Pinot Noir are planted in equal proportions and account
for 1.6 hectares each, whilst the Chardonnay and Tressallier represents
1.3 hectares and comes from the clay-limestone soils of Louchy-Montfand.
Everything is harvested by hand. For the moment, the wines are being made
by Evelyne, following a serious cycling accident in 2009 which saw Robert
confined to a wheel chair.
As for the wines, the single white is made from 95% Chardonnay and 5%
Tressallier and named Cuvée des
Bergerons after the lieu-dit
in which the grapes are grown. Of the two reds, the Rouge
Tradition is produced from 90% Gamay,
whilst the Pinotissime is
four-fifths Pinot Noir. There is also a fairly rustic Rosé
produced which makes use of a 12 hour maceration. In addition to the four
Saint-Pourçain wines above, there are two Vin
Mousseux de Qualité which are produced, aged and riddled in the
vaulted cellar below the house. The first, Blanc
de Blancs, is made from 100% Tessallier, whilst the Rosé de Noirs is solely from Gamay and spends the minimum nine
months on its lees before release. An impressive 80% of all the Prélots
sales are from the cellar door.
As much as I wanted to like the wines, I found there were some basic
faults to contend with, and as a result it is hard to recommend them with
any conviction. The most interesting and competent were the two sparkling
wines, which is clearly Evelyne’s own baby, but there are clearly better
wines being produced in the appellation.
Robert Prélot
Domaine des Bourrats
Les Bourrats
Route de Saulcet
Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule
T/F : + 33 4 70 45 68 64
Robert.prelot@wanadoo.fr
www.domaineprelot.com
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