“A tingling taste on the tongue, even with a dry, still Vouvray served as an apéritif, gives away this wine's natural leanings towards bubbles. The other great characteristic of Vouvray, apart from its very slight natural effervescence, is the Chenin Blanc grape variety... Vouvray produces some of the finest Chenin Blanc wines. In fact, Vouvray is the largest producer of Chenin Blanc in France, made from 1,750 hectares [4,300 acres] planted with the variety...”
“Some people can find the tingle and the tastes of Vouvray Chenin Blanc startling... It's interesting to distinguish the characteristics of the different types of wine produced here. The dry white makes for a powerful-tasting apéritif in Touraine. It could easily be served with fish and seafood. The demi-sec is the kind of sweet wine [whose] flowery honey flavour is less popupular these days — some suggest trying it with Touraine goat's cheese!”
“The Chenin Blanc character often comes out to good effect when transformed into sparkling wines... its flavours [are] strong enough to cope with the distraction of the bubbles... The very liquorous sweet moelleux will only be made in good years... where noble rot sets in; these sweet wines... can age for decades, even up to a century in rare vintages. They can have a mouth-filling richness and develop a variety of complex flavors.”
“Reaching the town of Vouvray itself, the lower part looks a bit of a mess down in the valley. Signs signal potential wine tastings, dégustations, at every turn. There is also a renowned charcuterie down here, Hardouin... These specialist charcutiers add a dash of Vouvray wine to their array of specialities. Their products are not sold just in the village, but also in some of the most prestigious grocery shops in Paris...”
The quoted excerpts above come from the Cadogan guide to the Loire Valley (1997,2001). Like villages in the Champagne wine country, Vouvray is surprisingly rustic and rural — agricultural, and not prettied up for tourists. The photos in the slideshow here are some I took in the years 2000 and 2001 on walks around the village and vineyards.
Great slide show...one of your best. Wondering whether that one photo you have of grapes certainly past their prime is what the article referred to as 'royal rot.'
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sheila. That's "noble rot" you see on those grapes, I think. Noble rot makes it possible to produce wines like Sauternes and Monbazillac in SW France. In good years, Vouvray can be made into what is called moelleux ("mellow") wines thanks to noble rot, but the climate here in the Loire Valley isn't hot enough to make that possible every year.
DeleteNice show. We really enjoyed tasting Vouvrays with you. Another plus is they are available in the USA to keep the memory alive.
ReplyDeleteAt a trade fair I attended a number of years ago, one speaker was from the Loire Valley Trade Commission. She called the Chenin Blanc grape "the magic grape," because it can make good versions of everything from very dry wines to very sweet wines.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do disagree with this line from the article: "A tingling taste on the tongue, even with a dry, still Vouvray served as an apéritif, gives away this wines natural leanings towards bubbles." I don't notice that tingling taste in a Vouvray, nor do I think it has a natural leaning towards bubbles.
I am not an oenologist but I think that Muscadet has a natural leaning toward bubbles.
DeleteI have to say we drink sparkling Vouvray more often than still Vouvray.
DeleteThe well-known wine expert Hugh Johnson says about Muscadet that the wine is left in barrels along with its own yeasty sediment (sur lie) and bottles in the spring without being filtered. "A certain amout of carbon dioxide is still dissolved in the wine and and helps to make it fresh and sometime faintly prickly to the tongue."
Of Vouvray, he says the wines' "built-in acidity... always keeps Chenin Blanc lively (if not always easy to drink)." He also writes about Vouvray wines' "natural tendency to re-ferment in the bottle..." That would make the wine slighty bubbly and give it a tingling taste, I think. There are two styles of Vouvray sparkling wine, pétillant and méthode traditionnelle. We always get the latter. I think the former is more of a vin mousseux and less like Champagne wines.
chm...I'd never heard that word oenology. Which I think is basically wine-ology in meaning. Your wide English vocabulary makes me think of the Hungarian linguistic teacher in "My Fair Lady" when he says: "whereas others are instructed in their native language, English people aren't."
ReplyDeleteVouvray sounds appealing precisely because it is not prettied up for tourists.
David, you're too kind!
DeleteOenologie is a French term that has been borrowed as scientific jargon in English. I'm sure most English-speakers have never heard it used before.
DeleteI found this article amazing. You have come up with deep knowledge to convey your message, thoughts, and opinion through the blog. Amazing one.
ReplyDeleteFood Magazine In France