August Wine Focus: Back to Basics with the Loire

Loire reds from Cabernet franc are very versatile. Some are very ageworthy like Patchen's Picasses and others are lightish and very fresh suitable for drinking young. Here is an example of the latter drunk last night outdoors with a simple al fresco dinner.

2017 G. Vallée Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil La Tour de Mon Père - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil (8/22/2019)
A lively and invigorating medium bodied St-Nic full of fresh red fruit, hints of clay, some poivron, good acidity but perhaps a tad less charming than the 2016 because of a faint resinous touch. Good though and fun to drink.
Posted from CellarTracker

[Robin Garr]

Pascal & Nicolas Reverdy 2017 "Cuvée 'Les Coûtes'" Sancerre ($28.99)

This straw-color wine is unfiltered but appears perfectly clear in the glass; watch for light, harmless sediment to appear with age. Its appealing aroma begins with a breath of musky melon and crisp, tart apples, soon joined by limey citrus. Juicy lime on the palate signals a brisk, acidic flavor, with distinct notes of stony minerality in the background. It's a nicely balanced, mouth-watering and intriguingly minerally white with 13.5$ alcohol, demonstrating how Sauvignon Blanc arguably shows at its best in the Loire. U.S. importer: Weygandt-Metzer, Unionville, Pa.; a Peter Weygandt Selection. (Aug. 22, 2019)

FOOD MATCH: Fresh, good quality oysters on the half-shell are the classic match, but simple seafood dishes in general as well as light summer salads will serve well. We enjoyed it with bite-size crab cakes and a salad dressed with chevre.

WHEN TO DRINK: It's enjoyable now, but this is one of those uncommon white wines that's likely to gain complexity and additional flavor interest given a little time. Don't try to keep it for decades, but four or five years in good cellar conditions can't hurt.

VALUE:
This fine Sancerre from a well located old-vines property commands a respectable price, but I think it's worth it at Wine-Searcher.com's $26 average retail and even my slightly higher local retail.

WEB LINK
Here's a detailed fact sheet on this wine from Chapel Hill Wine Co. in North Carolina.

FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Locate vendors and check prices for Reverdy "Cuvée 'Les Coûtes'" Sancerre on Wine-Searcher.com.

For an excellent overview of Sancerre and its wines, including links to dozens more Sancerres and vendors, browse this Wine-Searcher link.

Another Loire wine to add to the mix, this time a really wonderful sweet style of Savennieres from the outstanding 2002 vintage.

• 2002 Château de Chamboureau Savennières Roche aux Moines Chevalier Buhard - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Savennières Roche aux Moines (2019-08-23)
  A lovely gold/bronze colour, it's a wonderful blend of rich, viscous stonefruit and botrytis flavours with healthy acidity giving it excellent balance. Drinking at peak now, but this could probably last a while yet. It's getting rather Sauternes-ish, with some tobacco scents and flavours as well. Very sorry it's my last bottle! (A-/A)

Wow..that is a great TN. John congrats!

Another Loire wine to add to the mix, this time a really wonderful sweet style of Savennieres from the outstanding 2002 vintage.

• 2002 Château de Chamboureau Savennières Roche aux Moines Chevalier Buhard - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Savennières Roche aux Moines (2019-08-23)
  A lovely gold/bronze colour, it's a wonderful blend of rich, viscous stonefruit and botrytis flavours with healthy acidity giving it excellent balance. Drinking at peak now, but this could probably last a while yet. It's getting rather Sauternes-ish, with some tobacco scents and flavours as well. Very sorry it's my last bottle! (A-/A)

Sounds great. Indeed, always sorry to see these things go.

Tonight was a lovely bottle of 2017 Chidaine Montlouis Les Bournais. Ripe multi-faceted fruit that is golden and sunny but also focused and mineral fresh, with good grip and the chalky woolly chenin elements lurking in the background. A lot going on and all showing very well. Perfect before, with and after the leek omelette.

I really enjoy leeks but many folks I know find it pretty tasteless. Wonder they cook them!

I really enjoy leeks but many folks I know find it pretty tasteless. Wonder they cook them!

Leeks don't have taste? Unless these people have a diet of habaneros and habaneros, that makes no sense!

I agree but not a big seller in my area here in AB. Corn!!

[Jenise]

Opened this last night to serve with a Dungeness crab paella:

2016 Thomas-Labaille Sancerre Chavignol Cuvee Buster Les Monts Damnés Sauvignon Blanc
Yeah, the Cuvee Buster! Felt very lucky to score three bottles of this legend. Not a lean year and not an overripe year, but stunningly and deliciously in the middle. Generous quince and green apple fruit with laserlike acidity. Outstanding.

Tonight was a lovely bottle of 2017 Chidaine Montlouis Les Bournais. Ripe multi-faceted fruit that is golden and sunny but also focused and mineral fresh, with good grip and the chalky woolly chenin elements lurking in the background. A lot going on and all showing very well. Perfect before, with and after the leek omelette.

I will be in the Loire in a few weeks and Chidaine is one of the stops we have scheduled! Hope I get to try this one, sounds lovely...

UK forum chap not too complimentary about a visit to Chidaine. Should be good imo.
Other forumite mentions La Tonnelle wine shop/bar (right on the corner of Place de la Republique). Quite a few hard to find wines there..he says

TN: 2009 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Le Clos Guillot.

My last bottle of 3. Very good cork, 13% alc, decanted and served slightly chilled.

Light purple rim, hint of bricking. Wonderful nose with olive, green pepper, cherry and "maybe raspberry" from across the table. Nose held up overnight.
Initial entry thought was dry, soft tannins, still savoury , medium bodied and fair acidity. My storage has produced a winner, no doubt about that. Bell pepper, red fruits, raspberry for sure. Some ripe fruit day 2 on mid-palate blackcurrant. Balance here remains spot on as per previous bottles.
Food was perogy and farmers sausage.

That's a nice one, Bob. My Baudry inventory is pretty thin; just a couple of Francs de Pied (1x02 & 1x06) and a couple of Les Granges 15. His white Chinon from Chenin is also well worth searching out. AFAIK there are just two cuvées, both very good, but La Croix Boissée is more ambitious and sees some oak which IMO is a mixed blessing.

In mid september I will be in Riquewihr, Alsace.
There, in the main road, the Hugel family owns a nice wine shop, Boutique Vini, whose interesting wine list is online.
They have both Baudry Chinon Blanc, the normale for € 13,90 and La Croix Boissée for € 21.
Last week I wrote them to shelve some bottles, along with some Huet, Chidaine and Olga Raffault labels
In August 2017 I was chez Baudry in Cravant-les-Côteaux, and tasted a CB 2008 La Croix Boissée opened 48 hours before and it was stunning.
Boutique Vini is also the only place (for me) where to find easily Albert Boxler's best bottles (Brand and Sommerberg).

Roberto, I'm envious of your finding those bottles in Riquewihr and the prices look quite fair; I went to a cavste in Deauville yesterday where I have previously found Baudry wines but there were none . The gérant was not there so I was not able to enquire whether more were coming.

We had a seafood dinner yesterday and I immediately thought of Muscadet. This one comes from the Pierre Luneau or Famille Luneau estate but I am unable to find out from Google whether it is connected with the well regarded Luneau-Papin or not. I don't think this has the potential of Pépière's Gras Moutons or Briords but it was very enjoyable.

2016 Domaine Pierre Luneau Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Fief des Noëlles - France, Loire Valley, Pays Nantais, Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine (8/29/2019)
A nice refreshing bone dry Muscadet, a little bit simplistic but with the characteristic citrus fruit, stony minerals, lively acidity, sea breeze overtones and saline backbone. Perfect with oysters and bulots but a bit more gras and complexity, such as Anjou/Touraine chenin provides, would have been welcome with the barbue fish. Good.

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Clement et Florian Berthier 2014 Coteaux du Giennois l'Inédit, $18
Delightful, as always. It has a very pretty nose with Pinot strawberry/cherry and rose aromas followed on the palate by the same fruit and cinnamon, mineral and earth flavors. Smooth and balanced with great acidity. Excellent with hot alder-smoked sockeye and shiitakes, and with gazpacho, too. Classic light, minerally Loire Pinot Noir and a good value.

Domaine du Fresche 2017 Val de Loire Rouge Gorge, $14
This is a 50/50 blend of Pinot Noir and Grolleau. It’s a terrific quaffer, perfect for a warm summer day, vibrant and refreshing with light red fruit, minerals and earth aromas and flavors. Well-balanced with great acidity. Excellent with leftover sockeye.

Jenise

Where did you source the Cuvée Buster? Feel like I haven’t seen that in a long time.

[Jenise]

A local deli owner wine geek who moonlights for Louis Dressner got a six pack and we split it. A score because a ridiculously small amount of it came into the U.S.--ten cases, something like that.

2015 Pascal Thomas Sancerre Vendanges Manuelles La Moularde - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre (9/13/2019)
This Sancerre from an unfamiliar estate was sold to me as something very special; low yields, hand harvesting, special terroir, etc. At first it seemed very discreet but well balanced with white fruit, fine minerals, fresh acidity and with more refinement and less gooseberry and grapefruit than is typical with the Sauvignon grape. As the wine took on air and warmed up, it seemed to expand and deepen taking on welcome underlying roundness. Very good, if not quite up to the caviste's hype.
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I don't recall previously finding bretty notes in Baudry's wines but I suppose that it is a risk in low intervention winemaking.

2015 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Granges - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon (10/7/2019)
This bottle had a gamey streak in its fruit which makes me suspect brett infection. I like this note at the modest level found in this bottle where it adds complexity to the elegantly shaped medium body, charming red berry fruit, silky texture, fine minerals, fresh acidity and sufficient backbone. However, the brett allergic should be warned and ageing ability may be compromised. Good though.
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Great you are keeping this Focus alive Tim. Think I will join you

This vigneronne is quite a discovery. She farms less than one hectare of Chenin in Jasnières right in the north of Touraine by Le Loir, a tributary of La Loire -

2011 La Loge De Courtoux (Christine de Mianville) Jasnières Chant de Vigne - France, Loire Valley, Jasnières (10/13/2019)
This was a producer previously unknown to me; a mistake in view of the quality! At first pour and sniff, the slight darkness of colour and waxy butterscotch richness of the bouquet made me wonder whether I had inadvertently chosen a sweet wine. But no, upon sipping keenly focussed minerality and tension from lively acidity kicked after a rich sensation on the entry. As the meal proceeded, the wine's integration improved with the rich complexity seamlessly mingled with the tense minerality and bright fruit. I must look out for more wines from this estate. Very good. [
Posted from CellarTracker

Very good find Tim. No website as far as i can see?