Harvest in Vouvray, in the begining of the century.
Note the rock caves in the background.
Dear wine lovers,
When it comes to cheese and dessert, the truth is, it is difficult finding a wine that will go with both dishes. Hopefully, Vouvray has some treasures for you...
Vouvray, a beautiful village located near Tour in the Loire Valley, is a place where you can admire lots of authentic Châteaux from the 16th century like Châteaux Montpoupon Download chateau_montpoupon.jpg , Château Amboise Download chateau_amboise.jpg , Château Chenonceau Download chteau_chenonceau.jpg or Château de Jallanges where you can also stay overnight.
It is also the place which produces this unique sweet and sour wine made from of Chenin Blanc Download vouvray_vines.jpg. In fact, this grape variety manages to over-ripen without degrading. Noble rot is produced by a microscopic mushroom called “botrytis cinerea” that concentrates sugars as the water evaporates under the sun. In the meantime, a high acidity level is maintained and the outcome is a wine with 50 - 100 grams/liter of sugar balanced with a nice freshness.
These concentrated wines then age then in barrels kept in cellars dug into the rocks Download Rocks.jpg which maintain all year long a constant level of temperature and humidity. Then they are stored in bottles for at least 4 years.
Clos Baudoin, Domaine Georges Brunet, Domaine Bourillon or Château Moncontour are serious references that represent pretty well the wines of this superb area (family-owned with respect to ancestral traditions).
I will never forget this visit at Clos Baudoin owned by the charismatic Prince Philippe Poniatowski. It is there that my friends Chris and Reed tasted so many great wines. One particular is this 1989 that I still have in my cellar and that expresses so many complex and different flavors at the same time, like mushrooms, dry apricots and honey. Oh, by the way, we tasted them with thinly sliced salami. See, you can also try this wine for the aperitif !
Cheers,
Jean-Marc Espinasse
Any comments, edits are very welcome at [email protected]
*Listen to "Vouvray" : Download Vouvray.mp3
**Mushroom = Champignon
To see Vouvray on a French wine map (use enlarge icon to see it better) : Download Vouvray.jpg
