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For our October Meeting Peter Lee-Smith presented an interesting trip along The Loire, stopping off for a selection of wines along the way. An enlightening evening for many of us as Loire wines do not receive the recognition they deserve.
The wines tasted were:
- Cuvee Prive, Ackerman, Cremant de Loire AOC, Brut Rose NV, numbered bottles. Bought at Cellars £10. [UK £16?]
- Fief Guerin, Muscadet AOC, Cotes de Grandlieu sur lie, 2018, Vielles Vignes, Single vineyard. Gerome Choblet (Terra Vitis- sustainability) 12% Waitrose £8.50.
- Menetou-Salon AOP, Sauvignon blanc. 2017. Wine maker, Pierre-Jean Sauvion of Ch. Clairet-Sauvion, Nantes. Calvet, negotiant. Numbered bottles. 12.5% Waitrose. £15
- Sancerre AOC 2018.Vigneron Hubert Brochard of Chavignol. 13%. Waitrose £16
- Les Nivieres, Saumur AOC, Rouge,2017. Bottled by Cave”Robert et Marcel”, Cave Co-op, St Cyr en Bourg 13%. Waitrose £9.50
- Domaine les Demoiselles de Pallus, Chinon AOC 2015. Vielles vignes. Ch. bottled by Demars (Gosset Champagne) family. 12.5%. Bought at cellar £10.[UK 15? but n/a]
- Ch Gaudrelle, Vouvray AOC,reserve special, 2015. Moelleux. Ch. Bottled by Alexandre Monmousseau. 375ml. Waitrose £11
Peter’s Background Notes
At a thousand kilometres the Loire is the longest river in France. Here English and French mediaeval history entwine. Only in its lower half is wine making significant, particularly after the river turns west near Orleans. In terms of growing and making wine in Atlantic-influenced France, the Loire marks the northern limit.
Questions that you might like to ponder on while you are tasting. Do Loire wines deserve to be better known? Do they provide good value? What foods do they complement? What impact is global warming having on the quality of their wine?
Because the Loire flows east to west, it has a profusion of gentle, well-drained south facing slopes. In addition, many tributaries, particularly around Angers and Tours, join at an acute angle, providing, as they meander, further desirable locations. Typically, wine growers have sought out the particular combinations of soil and aspect (terroirs) most favourable for specific grapes.
Important grape growing regions tend to correspond with cities along the river valley: Nantes and Muscadet; Angers with Coteaux de Layon, Saumur with sparkling wine, Chinon and Bourgueil; Tours with Montlouis and Vouvray, Bourges with Rully, Quincy and Menetou-Salon ; just leaving Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé staring at each other across the water.
Not surprisingly this is a valley of white grapes: the Melon de Bourgoine for Muscadet in the West; Chenin blanc for sparkling, dry, demi-sec or sweet white wines in the central region and Sauvignon Blanc in Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé and the other eastern vineyards. Nearly all the significant red wines are made from Cabernet Franc. There are practical reasons behind the choice of these grapes to plant. Blending is rare; most bottles contain 100% single cepage.
Melon de Bourgoine. The only grape in Muscadet has good resistance to the cold, although it buds early and is thus susceptible to late frosts, which fortunately are infrequent on the Atlantic coast. However, because it is easily attacked by fungi, it may have to be picked before complete maturation. This is a wine that is produced in large quantities to accompany the seafood along the north and west coasts. “Sur Lie” wines are bottled straight from the barrel rather than filtered first. Other techniques to improve the quality and depth of flavour are: skin contact, stirring the lees (battonage) and barrel fermentation, as well as reducing the yield from 55-60 hl/ha to 45 hl/ha. The schist (flinty) soils of the Sevre-et-Maine region usually provide the best quality. Ideally fruity and firm, rather than overly acidic, this is a seafood food wine.
Chenin blanc. Probably originated in this area. It is still underestimated as a classic grape variety. This is as far north as the grapes can grow to maturity; here also annual weather variations are more extreme. In cold wet years, particularly if combined with over cropping, Chenin produces hard, acid and unpleasant wines. South of Angers in Coteaux de Layon, tiny, well-chosen terroirs and meticulous winemaking techniques produce, remarkably, both dry and sweet wines with the ability to age 30 years or more. The same is true of Vouvray and to a lesser extent Montlouis, east of Tours. The river valleys, particularly in the west, produce the high humidity and consequent autumn mists that encourage the production of noble rot, botrytis, that shrivels Chenin. Chenin reflects its soil in its style: sandy soils give light, early maturing wines; clay gives weightier, richer wines; limestone gives wines with fine acidity; silex produces vivacious, tingly tastes but the most favoured, rounded combination of both weight and acidity is produced on calcareous clay. Chenin Blanc is extremely vigorous and can easily produce more than 50 hl/ha; dessert wines require yields half or even 1/5 of this! Loire Chenins are fermented between 16 and 20°C to retain the potential for flavours at maturity of acacia, honey, brioche, quince and greengage. In sparkling wine where grape maturity is of less concern, look out for flavours of crisp apples, greengage, angelica and damp earth.
Sauvignon blanc. Despite New Zealand’s Marlborough region setting the world standard for this grape, the growers of Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé hold, with increasing financial success, to their particular style of restrained finesse; notice minerality rather than tropical fruits. After all, this is probably the original home of the grape. Although some Bordeaux chateaux might demure, Sancerre vignerons can justifiably claim that theirs’ is the finest expression of the grape certainly in France, if not the world. Climate is key to the balance between sugar ripeness, acidity and aroma. Unusually Sauvignon is both a late budder and earlier ripener, so it doesn’t need enormous heat. In fact slow ripening produces better flavour development so the date of the vendage is critical; global warming has brought it forward. Soil is a secondary but significant factor, particularly in the minds of the vignerons, because the geology of their domains is so complex: from chalk (balance and finesse), marl (ageing ability), silex (vigour) through to sand and gravel (spice and floral). Yields are high with a maximum of 68 hl/ha in Sancerre. Fermentation temperatures are also higher at 16-18°C to produce wines which emphasise their mineralogy rather than their fruitiness. Some Loire producers are experimenting with skin contact, malolactic fermentation, ageing on the lees, stirring (batonnage), even new oak barrels, if only for a proportion of their grapes. Traditional Sauvignon produced vegetable flavours: grassy, gooseberry, green pepper and asparagus. Increasingly these are being replaced by richer, fruit flavours of peach and melon. Quincy, Rully and M-S produce fresh but less intense flavours and are consequently cheaper. Sauvignon is an excellent aperitif, pairs brilliantly with seafood, tomato dishes and goat’s cheese.
Cabernet Franc. Today it is hidden in the shadow of its internationally renowned offspring, Cabernet Sauvignon. However, Franc copes better with cool soils and ripens more easily in difficult years. It is sufficiently independent of climate for soil to be the prime variable: sandy chalk (tuffeau) soils give more weight than sand or gravel, the early drinkers. In Chinon, Bourgueil and Saumur Champigny, where the tuffeau cliffs run close to the river, the un-oaked wines in good years express themselves with both texture and longevity (15 years). The key tasting notes are raspberries, red peppers and lead pencil, balanced by a refreshing tang of blackcurrant leaves. It is a light/medium weight wine, worth decanting and drinking slightly cool. This region is so variable environmentally and geologically that selecting your producer is the key to satisfaction, although all should provide good value. Food pairings include vegetarian dishes, light meats, especially those cooked with fresh herbs and of course Loire goats cheese.
Vintages: 2018-5*. 2017- 4*. 2016-3*. 2015-5*. 2014-4*. 2013-2*.
Peter Lee-Smith October 2019.
Sources: World Atlas of Wine 5th Edition by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson. Grapes and Wines by Oz Clarke and Margaret Rand.
My thanks to Peter for providing a copy of his notes which saved a great deal of typing!