Wine Focus for June: The Loire!

2013 Thierry Germain Saumur-Champigny - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Saumur-Champigny (6/28/2015)
A good robust entry level Saumur-Champigny with fresh red fruit, earthy minerals, lively acidity, marked tannic support and that slight resinous touch which I often find in Loire CabFranc from the less ripe vintages. Good.

P.S. I am used to Germain's entry level cuvée carrying the words "Domaine des Roches Neuves" on the label but this one doesn't. Does anyone know whether it is the same wine differently labelled or a different wine, which is not mentioned on the Thierry Germain/Roches Neuves website or in the guides?

Tim, I have no idea if it's the same wine or not, but I had the 2013 "Domaine des Roches Neuves" last month and thoroughly enjoyed it. My notes read: Very nice dark strawberry, herbal, mineral and earthy aromas and flavors. Light-bodied but with more oomph to the aromas and flavors than that suggests. Smooth texture with vibrant acidity and decent structure from tannins. Ordered it in a restaurant to go with fried chicken and it actually worked well. (Though I find Loire Cab Francs go well with a wider variety of food than almost any other wine I can think of.)

Other recent Loires:

Gerard & Pierre Morin 2009 Sancerre rouge, $22.50
Terrific. Slightly darker than most other Sancerres I've had. Wonderful aromas of strawberry/cherry, roses, cinnamon and minerals. On the palate, more strawberry/cherry with cinnamon, minerals and earth. Smooth texture, decent structure and vibrant acidity. Outstanding match with hot alder-smoked sockeye in a maple/soy/ginger glaze and shiitakes.

Domaine de la Pépière 2013 Vin de Pays de Val de Loire Cabernet La Pépiè, $13
Beautiful, vibrant aromas and flavors of tart, sour cherry mixed with wonderful herbal notes, and some earth, tobacco and minerals. Vibrant acidity, smooth texture and good structure. Excellent match with the leftover sockeye.

Clement et Florian Berthier 2012 Coteaux du Giennois Pinot Noir, $13.50
Very pleasant, not as effusive as some bottles I’d had months earlier, but nice light Pinot strawberry fruit with earth, mineral and cinnamon notes. Nice bright acidity. Excellent match with a potato/onion/mushroom/chard/swiss omelette.

Domaine Bernard Baudry 2004 Chinon Les Grézeaux, $25
Beautiful. Nice bright singing red fruit with accents of herbs, minerals and earth. There’s a slight touch of brett/funk but in a way that enhances it rather than detracts. Smooth texture, bright acidity and decent structure. Wonderfully balanced. Terrific wine and an outstanding match with grilled, marinated mulefoot pork chops, baby leeks and shiitakes. The next evening, it’s as good or even better. Brilliant complex fruit -- "singing" is still the best descriptor I can come up with -- mixing raspberry and cherry with great accents of herb, earth and mineral. Year after year, this bottling is one of my favorite wines anywhere and for my taste, the best of the all-great Baudry portfolio.

Tim, I have no idea if it's the same wine or not, but I had the 2013 "Domaine des Roches Neuves" last month and thoroughly enjoyed it. My notes read: Very nice dark strawberry, herbal, mineral and earthy aromas and flavors. Light-bodied but with more oomph to the aromas and flavors than that suggests. Smooth texture with vibrant acidity and decent structure from tannins. Ordered it in a restaurant to go with fried chicken and it actually worked well. (Though I find Loire Cab Francs go well with a wider variety of food than almost any other wine I can think of.)

Other recent Loires:

Gerard & Pierre Morin 2009 Sancerre rouge, $22.50
Terrific. Slightly darker than most other Sancerres I've had. Wonderful aromas of strawberry/cherry, roses, cinnamon and minerals. On the palate, more strawberry/cherry with cinnamon, minerals and earth. Smooth texture, decent structure and vibrant acidity. Outstanding match with hot alder-smoked sockeye in a maple/soy/ginger glaze and shiitakes.

Domaine de la Pépière 2013 Vin de Pays de Val de Loire Cabernet La Pépiè, $13
Beautiful, vibrant aromas and flavors of tart, sour cherry mixed with wonderful herbal notes, and some earth, tobacco and minerals. Vibrant acidity, smooth texture and good structure. Excellent match with the leftover sockeye.

Clement et Florian Berthier 2012 Coteaux du Giennois Pinot Noir, $13.50
Very pleasant, not as effusive as some bottles I’d had months earlier, but nice light Pinot strawberry fruit with earth, mineral and cinnamon notes. Nice bright acidity. Excellent match with a potato/onion/mushroom/chard/swiss omelette.

Domaine Bernard Baudry 2004 Chinon Les Grézeaux, $25
Beautiful. Nice bright singing red fruit with accents of herbs, minerals and earth. There’s a slight touch of brett/funk but in a way that enhances it rather than detracts. Smooth texture, bright acidity and decent structure. Wonderfully balanced. Terrific wine and an outstanding match with grilled, marinated mulefoot pork chops, baby leeks and shiitakes. The next evening, it’s as good or even better. Brilliant complex fruit -- "singing" is still the best descriptor I can come up with -- mixing raspberry and cherry with great accents of herb, earth and mineral. Year after year, this bottling is one of my favorite wines anywhere and for my taste, the best of the all-great Baudry portfolio.

Bruce, I'm pretty sure that yours was the domaine wine and mine the négociant. Indeed your TN is very like one for the domaine wine in a French guide and shows a more delicious wine than mine.

The rest of your bottles also get my mouth watering. I don't think I've ever had a wine from Coteaux du Giennois. It sounds as if I should remedy that!

[Bruce, I'm pretty sure that yours was the domaine wine and mine the négociant. Indeed your TN is very like one for the domaine wine in a French guide and shows a more delicious wine than mine.

The rest of your bottles also get my mouth watering. I don't think I've ever had a wine from Coteaux du Giennois. It sounds as if I should remedy that!

It may be more a matter of my limitations as a writer of tasting notes. I did indeed enjoy the Germain, but it was nowhere close to the Baudry. I also have more tolerance for the green notes in less ripe Loires than most people do.

Re Coteaux du Giennois, for me I'll grab a rarity when I see it for sentimental reasons; I once had a wonderful three-week house exchange with a family that lived just outside Gien. The locals, by the way, pooh-poohed Coteaux du Giennois wines as inferior and mostly stuck to Sancerres and Menetou-Salons. However, the Berthier probably ranks as the best of the limited number I've tried and would be well worth it if you like lighter-styled Pinots similar to those found in neighboring regions.

2002 DOMAINE DE LA CHANTELEUSERIE BOURGUEIL BEAUVAIS

Maybe there's bottle variation here. RSLVERST on Cellar tracker tasted this in March and found it had "lots of tartrates" (mine. last night and tonight, had none), its nose was "like dirt" and "vegetal" (mine, at first, smelled like a fine, mature Chinon, then later the spices came out), and was "still tannic" (my bottle's tannins were beautifully resolved). "Later," he didn't say when, with food he found it much better and "spicy and bold," which does correspond with how mine tasted after an hour in decanter and a half-hour in my glass, which summoned the Bourgueil spice, so apparently we were tasting the same wine. He gave it 87 points but I'd add, say, five to that.

This is a Kermit Lynch import and I bought mine in March for what I consider a steal at only $34. Wineseasrcher Pro says there are a few bottles left in the country here and there at about that price, so I ordered more today. Should be good for several years. I'd serve it to the Queen, if she said she liked Bourgueil.

Nicer note, always keen to read about Bourgueil. I would like to think that Tim might have good access to this appellation?
Coteaux du Giennois...new to me, need to find more info.

Nicer note, always keen to read about Bourgueil. I would like to think that Tim might have good access to this appellation?

There is Bourgueil available round here but, alas, I rarely see one from my old friends, easy to find in Brussels, like Yannick Amirault, Jacky Blot and Caslot. Always possible to order directly from the estate, though .

Coteaux du Giennois...new to me, need to find more info.

Located on or near the Loire in between Sancerre and Orleans and a bit like Sancerre light. Whites I believe are Sauvignon Blanc. I had thought that reds had to be a blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay but the Berthier is 100 percent PN and still bears the appelation, so I was wrong about that. But I believe most reds have at least some Gamay in them.

2002 DOMAINE DE LA CHANTELEUSERIE BOURGUEIL BEAUVAIS

Maybe there's bottle variation here. RSLVERST on Cellar tracker tasted this in March and found it had "lots of tartrates" (mine. last night and tonight, had none), its nose was "like dirt" and "vegetal" (mine, at first, smelled like a fine, mature Chinon, then later the spices came out), and was "still tannic" (my bottle's tannins were beautifully resolved). "Later," he didn't say when, with food he found it much better and "spicy and bold," which does correspond with how mine tasted after an hour in decanter and a half-hour in my glass, which summoned the Bourgueil spice, so apparently we were tasting the same wine. He gave it 87 points but I'd add, say, five to that..

Maybe some bottle variation, but also taster variation. Difficult to know how to judge some of those Cellartracker notes.

Here's another northern Touraine wine from Pineau d'Aunis and very elegant too in a light vein.

2013 Domaine les Maisons Rouges Coteaux du Loir Garance - France, Loire Valley, Coteaux du Loir (06/30/2015)
I like this wine made from Pineau d'Aunis above all for its distinctive personality, unlike any other. It is light in colour and body but there is quite an intensity of aroma both on the nose and palate, which is marked by sour cherry and strawberry with a large sprinkling of pepper. The palate is linear with decent acidity, spine and grip on the finish and the overall effect is flavoursome and elegant even at this early age. On a torrid evening the wine warmed up quickly. It seemed as if there were two different wines; cool it was very mineral, peppery and tense; warmer the soft red fruit came out but the minerals and acidity provided balance. Good+.

[Robin Garr]

Touraine wine from Pineau d'Aunis

I love those wines, Tim, and Mary does too, but they are astonishingly hard to find here. I'm not sure if Puzelat-Bonhomme even exists any more ... the negociant brand may have passed on after Joe Dressner's passing.

Last night for the end of this topic I began the meal with a NV Pinon Vouvray Brut which was absolutely delicious and more complex and layered than expected. Although, that may be more a function of my expectations being irrationally low. Regardless, it was good good times.

One is well advised to have "low expectations" for sparkling Vouvrays, but I'll look for the NV Pinon Vouvray Brut. I've never figured out why so few Loire sparklers fail to make the grade, but when the Vouvray bruts are good they can be very good.

[Jenise]

And throwing one last one in the hat from Chez J: we enjoyed the 2014 Plouzeau Chinon rose last night. Beautifully nuanced and balanced. A great buy for around $15 at Esquin, Seattle.

One is well advised to have "low expectations" for sparkling Vouvrays, but I'll look for the NV Pinon Vouvray Brut. I've never figured out why so few Loire sparklers fail to make the grade, but when the Vouvray bruts are good they can be very good.

Maybe for sparkling Vouvray in general, but when we're talking about the top producers like Pinon, Huet, Foreau et al, it's not a matter of quality. I've enjoyed sparkling wines from all of them in the past (and on another board I've been reminded of the glory of Pinon non dose), but I generally put Pinon on a level a bit below Huet and Foreau and forgot how truly fun this wine could be.

Pal back from London visit and some 2015 Jacky Blot Montlouis Les Dix Arpents. Lucky me eh!

Lucky you, Bob. I think, from reading Blot's website, that Les 10 Arpents is a generic cuvée so it may need less time than some of the others - "Générique premier passage, ensemble du premier passage à Montlouis.". Some of his more important cuvées see about 25% new wood which can take some time to integrate.