 |
In France’s Loire Valley Chenin Blanc attains its full brilliant potential through careful wine making techniques and the invaluable terrior (a combination of the climate, weather, site, culture, soil and aspect.) Here it makes ethereal sweet wines, a well-made sparkling wine and some of my favorite dry, still white wine. The grape is also incredibly versatile - colder years produce the kind of acidity necessary for sparkling wines, while warmer vintages create the high sugar levels needed for the sticky stuff.
You will never find the words “Chenin Blanc” on a French wine label, since they name a wine after the region where the grapes are grown instead of by the name of the grapes. The best Chenin Blancs are known as Vouvray and Savennieres (both sub-regions in the Loire). Recently, I sipped and talked with fellow Debonair writer Ben Kneen, August Cardona of the Italian Wine Merchants, Alex Zink of Vinifera Imports, Gothamist wine columnist Tamara Lover, and Jim Kuhner, general manager of Vestry Wines. We sampled a range of Savennieres priced at less than $25.
Savennieres wines traditionally are meant to be imbibed after three to four years of bottle age and many can improve with ten years of age or more. We found the opposite in this tasting, where our favorite wine was the youngest, Domaine du Closel La Jaoulsie 2004 and our least favorite was the oldest, Clos des Perrieres, laden with sulfur and not yet ready to drink.
The last three generations of winemakers at Domaine du Closel, our winning wine, have all been women—unusual for a traditional French family. Equally as atypical is the product, a dry wine that doesn’t act like one. It can be easy to get the impression of sweetness from the Chenin’s honeysuckle, almond, lime, quince and some beeswax and floral notes. How about a sweater in your wine? Well-made Chenin has a certain wooly character that wine pros refer to as lanolin. There is always a firm base of stoniness and a high flavor concentration; the low-yields imposed by the region’s governing body ensure this wine is complex. It’s a wonderful wine for the thinker or the drinker.
Joe Recommends:
Domaine du Closel Chateau des Vaults - La Jalousie 2004
Macaroon, apple cider, almond, marzipan, lanolin, ripe yellow apples and a stony minerality.
This complex wine was more fruit-forward yet was concentrated, complex, and elegant and drank like a much more expensive bottle.
Pairing:
Serve Savennieres with spicy food, white meats or hearty fish. Try this with a semi-soft goat cheese. We particularly liked the way salty Marcona almonds reflected the nutty notes in the wine.
 | ||||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|
| ||
|
|
|
||||
| ||||||
