River Indre in Loches passing the George Sand hotel and restaurant

 A message received yesterday:

'Dear Jim,

I just stumbled across your blog about loire valley wines. My family and I will be traveling to Loire soon. Specifically, we are staying near Loches for a week. We love our wine but are by no means experts. I was wondering if you might give me some suggestions of wineries not to be missed. With so many options I am a bit overwhelmed. Any info you could pass on would be of great help however, please do not feel obligated to respond. I know you must get lots of questions like this. Thank you so much.'

**

Loches is a little way out from the Loire's main wine producing areas. For instance both Vouvray and Chinon are about an hour's drive away with Montlouis slightly closer at around 50 minutes. Closer are the two main producers of Touraine Noble Joué – Jean-Jacques Sard and Rousseau Frères in Esvres about half an hour away from Loches in the direction of Tours. Noble Joué is a little known but long established rosé made from three Pinots – Noir, Meunier and Gris. Of the two Rousseau is the larger concern with nearly 20 hectares of vines offering a range of other wines as well as Noble Joué. 

Also around 30 minutes away from Loches are the producers in the Cher Valley. People to visit would include Jean-François Mériau (Vignobles des Bois Vaudons) in Saint-Julien-de-Chédon and Vincent Ricard in Thésée.  

Going further afield then Jacky Blot's Domaine de la Taille aux Loups in Husseau (Montlouis) where you can buy his Vouvray and Bourgueil as well as Montlouis is certainly recommended as is the François Chidaine's La Cave Insolite in Montlouis. 

Across the river in Vouvray my choices include Domaine Huet, Champalou, Foreau, Bernard Fouquet (Domaine des Aubuisières) and Alexandre Monmousseau's Château Gaudrelle, whose tasting room and winery in now at the western end of Rochecorbon. 

If you decide to go to Chinon my choices would include Baudry-Dutour (tasting room in Cravant-les-Coteaux), Charles Joguet (Sazilly), Domaine de Noblaie (Jérôme Billard in Ligré) and Château de Coulaine (Etienne and Pascale Bonnaventure in Beaumont-en-Véron).

There are many other possibilities and much depends upon how far you want to drive and how many places you wish to visit. Mentioning them all would make for a very long post! 

2 September 2009

Keith Prothero considering the 1989 Clos de la Dioterie, Charles Joguet

Had a very agreeable lunch with Keith Prothero, who is involved in various charity (just giving) and wine projects including the Pebbles Project, Mullineux Wines and is an investor in the award winning The Sampler.

Apero: 1976 Le Mont Vouvray demi-sec, Domaine Huet

This is one of the remaining bottles that we bought during one of several visits to Domaine Huet in the early 1980s. We bought a number of 1976s – mainly moelleux. Many of them have had problematic corks – not corked but not well sealed so several of them have been quite ullaged. One, indeed, that we tried about a year to 18 months ago was only two-thirds full. Nevertheless I pulled the cork, fearing the worse, and was amazed that it was still fine and not oxidised.

This demi-sec was less ullaged – high shoulder – but was probably more affected. A question of being demi-sec rather than moelleux, the higher level of sugar providing greater protection? Mid to deep gold with definite notes of oxidation on the nose; on the palate this still has that wonderful balance of honeyed fruit and acidity that makes Huet's wines so thrilling. Slightly baked fruit – a reminder of how hot and dry 1976 was. (In the UK Denis Howell was famously appointed 'Minister for Drought' whereupon the skies opened a few days later!)

This being a déjeuner de la modération Keith and I kept some of the 1976 to try later on – it worked well with my linguine and crab and, a while later, with the blue cheese. I had put it in a carafe and over the course of a couple of hours or so it opened up and certainly didn't become more oxidised, although I do think that due to the ullaging it wasn't as good as it might have been. Nevertheless memorable.

First course: 1998 Les Cormiers, Saumur Blanc, Château de Villeneuve

Les Cormiers is Jean-Pierre Chevallier's top cuvée of Saumur Blanc, vinified in 500 litre barrels with a proportion of new oak. JP is always keen to keep Chenin's acidity, so there is no malo here. The 1998 is an interesting contrast to the 1999, one of JP's really great Les Cormiers. The 1999 is much richer, creamier, more flattering than the 1998, which was a difficult year with a wet and cool September. The quite austere 1998 reflects this with precise minerality – still very youthful. Tasted blind it would be difficult to divine that this wine is now nearly 11 years old. Worked well with both Keith's quiche and my linguine and crab.

1996 Grand Clos, Saumur-Champigny, Château de Villeneuve

I'm a great fan of 1996 Loire reds – a really classic vintage – and I think Jean-Pierre Chevallier's Grand Clos is one of the finest examples of the vintage. It has the typical Loire Cabernet Franc herbal character with touches of sous bois, rich, silky fruit and good structure and length. It shows no sign of tiring and will still be a fine bottle for several years to come. Not surprising that the 1996 Grand Clos has stunned the Bordelais on a number of occasions in blind tastings.

1989 Clos de la Dioterie, Chinon, Charles Joguet

Next, the 1989 Closde la Dioterie Chinon from Charles Joguet. This was made when Charles was at the height of his powers, nearly a decade before he retired, and when he was generally considered the best Chinon producer. I've had several bottles of the 1989 Dioterie and, although it had lovely silky, voluptuous fruit on the palate – closer to Burgundy than to Bordeaux – on the nose it was beginning to show its age. Initially when we opened it, it had that typical Joguet animal, kidney nose. However, it soon took on that tiring, slightly pencil shavings nose.

And the wine of the lunch: I'd have to go for the Grand Clos, although all revealed the possibilities of the Loire.

4 August 2009

The line up

Back in the Loire arriving just in time to entertain Wink Lorch and Brett Jones of The Wine Travel Guides. They have been spending a few days in the Loire, which has included eating at two of the Loire's most interesting restaurants – C'Heu le Zib in Menetou-Salon and La Promenade in Le Petit-Pressigny. Both establishments I'm happy to report had met their expectations.

With a nice warm evening we are able to eat outside and take the opportunity to look at one or two bottles.

1986 Clos du Bourg Moelleux Vouvray Domaine Huet

We started with the 1986 Clos du Bourg Moelleux, Vouvray, Huet SA. As is so often the case with the Huet wines it is very difficult to judge the age of this wine from the colour, which is light gold – paler than you might imagine a 23 year old wine would be. Delicately sweet and beautifully balanced with crisp, precise acidity, this made a very fine apéritif. There was some discussion whether this really was a moelleux. It certainly wasn't demi-sec – too much residual sugar. My guess is that it has between 50 and 65 grams of residual sugar. This is, however, very much a guess as the acidity probably masks to sugar and makes the wine appear drier than it is analytically.

It is also I fancy an assumption that moelleux means sweet enough to drink with a dessert, which is often not the case. This, of course, underlines the stupidity of those who insist on describing all sweet wines as dessert wines.(I could go on at some length here but won't on this occasion.) This Clos du Bourg would be murdered by a dessert but as well as being a lovely apero would have been good with cheese, creamy pork and chicken dishes. It might also work well with sautéd Coquilles Saint Jacques.

2007 Montées des Roches, Saumur-Champigny, Domaine Saint-Just

With the simple warm salad of lardons and goats' cheese (from Epeigné-les-Bois) the surprisingly rich, supple and delicious 2007 Montées des-Roches, Saumur-Champigny slipped down a treat with the accent very much on its generous black fruits.

1999 Château de Villeneuve Vieilles Vignes

For the main course – plain roast chicken – we had a small, slightly lopsided vertical of Saumur-Champignys from Château de Villeneuve. Firstly the still youthful 1999 Vieilles Vignes followed by the fine 1997 Le Grand Clos. We discussed whether I had chosen to serve these two in the right order – given that the 1999 is still quite grippy, while the 1997 has more finesse and the soft, opulence that the flattering 1997s have always had. Although an argument could be made for putting the 1997 first, I think that as the 1997 Grand Clos has more complexity then it was better off being served after the 1999. However, the 1997 Grand Clos is not as good as the marvellous 1996.

1997 Le Grand Clos, Château de Villeneuve

For cheese we had two wines that included the one failure of the evening – the 1990 Château de Hureau Saumur Blanc 9Philippe Vatan), which was a bit oxidised and now past it. Brett kindly suggested that the 1990 was a painted lady with fading charms. I'm more inclined to feel that the wine's charm had faded. Not that this was in anyway Philippe's fault but mine for not drinking this earlier. His 1990 Saumur Blanc was a real revelation and an inspiration in the early to mid 1990s, showing what could be done with Saumur Blanc.

1990 Saumur Blanc, Château de Hureau

1994 Vin de Paille, Côtes du Jura, Alain Labet

Wink Lorch

Wink is a leading expert on the wines of the Jura and Savoie and she and Brett kindly brought along this 1994 Vin de Paille, Côtes du Jura from Alain Labet, a producer in Rotalier. Considerably sweeter than the Huet Moelleux, with its raisiny and nutty characteristics this is much in the style of an Italian Vino Santo. It was good with the cheese (Comté and some Gongonzola) as well as the raspberry tarts that completed the meal.

1990 Coteaux du Layon Saint-Aubin, Domaine Gaudard, Pierre Aguilas

With the raspberry tarts we also tried Pierre Aguilas' attractively honeyed and delicate 1990 Layon which was a good match with the strawberries. Pierre is now a grand fromage in French wine administration as he is now president of the Confédération nationale des producteurs de vins et eaux-de-vie de vin à appellations d’origine contrôlées (CNAOC).

The forecast is promising us a couple of fine days to enjoy the sunshine before rain sets in on Friday and Saturday.