TonghamTaster’s French Wine Tasting Course – week 8 Loire Chenin Blanc Whites

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INTRODUCTION
The Loire Valley is justly famous for its wonderful Chenin Blanc white wines of the middle Loire around Vouvray and Layon. However, for the casual consumer these can be confusing as the wines vary from dry to off-dry to medium to sweet. What is worse is that this is not always clear from the bottle. Lets try to help! This week we will also cover the lovely sparkling wines of the region.

LOCALITY
The middle Loire that grows the chenin blanc grape stretches quite a way from Anjou and Saumur to Touraine.

VARIETALS
The grape we are mainly covering this week is the Chenin Blanc varietal. It is not as well regarded as Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, probably because of the confusing variety of styles from one area.
The sparkling wines of the area often contain chardonnay and cabernet franc as well as chenin blanc but can contain all of the Loire grape varieties except for Sauvignon Blanc.

THE WINES

There are many different styles of Chenin Blanc in the Loire Valley and many different appellations.
Dry – the best dry chenin blanc whites come from the Savennieres AOC.
Off Dry – the wines of Vouvray and Mont Louis are often off-dry but can be any style. Many other appellations fit the off-dry category as well. Another worth trying if you like a very honey tasting wine but still relatively dry is Jasnieres.
Sweet – The main sweet chenin blanc wine area of the Loire is the Coteaux du Layon. Within this area the very best wines come from Bonnezeaux and Quarts de Chaume.
Sparkling – The sparkling wines of the Loire are for me really good value but also often high quality. The Chenin Blanc gives them a taste somewhat different to Champagne. Good sparkling wines can be found in the Vouvray, Mont Louis, Saumur and the generic Cremant de Loire appellation.

Saumur

THE TASTE
Chenin Blanc wines tend to have a honey taste and often some floral overtones. Any sweetness tends to be balanced by a crisp acidity in the better wines.
The sparkling wines of the Loire tend to have a real yeasty and creamy taste that I really like.

TOP TIPS
• The sparkling wines of the Loire can be an excellent value alternative to Champagne.
• The still white Chenin Blancs of the Loire are quite unique and still good value. They are good aperitif wines if you have a sweet tooth or otherwise good food wines.

HOMEWORK
For your homework this week you need to buy and try any Loire Chenin Blanc. You might want to try one of my recommendations below:

If going for a dry white – Waitrose – Chateau des Vaults La Jalousie 2009 Savennieres – about £14.
If going for an off-dry white – Laithwaites – Reserve Champalou 2008 Vouvray – about £12.
If going for sweet white and you are local to Farnham – Imbibros – Chateau de la Roulerie 2009 Coteau du Layon – about £8 a half bottle.
You might also consider a trip down to Les Caves des Pyrenes in Guildord to see their selection.

FOOD PAIRINGS
The sweet wines make great dessert wines or are good with Foire Gras or some of the adventurous pairings I suggested for Sauternes in an earlier blog.
The off-dry whites make a good pairing for Thai food.
The dry Savennieres are great with many food items. On this Valentines Day I paired one with a hard cheese course, salmon ceviche, veal escallopes with a porcini and white truffle sauce, and a lemon risotto. All worked really well.

COMING SOON
Next week we continue our wine tour of the Loire Valley and discover my favourite Sauvignon Blanc whites of Sancerre and surrounds.

If you missed the early weeks of this course, it is not too late to catch up. Just click on the French Wine Course link at the top of this page.