La Belle du Domaine - Saint Nicholas de Bourgueil

 

Cabernet Franc - Val de Loire

 

Chateau de Brissac, Anjou Villages Brissac

Chateau de Brissac, Anjou Villages Brissac. Appellation Anjou Villages Brissac Controlee. Cabernet Franc. Earthy red.

The appellations Anjou Villages (494 acres) and Anjou Villages Brissac (210 acres) are a selection of the best vineyard parcels within the larger Anjou AOC. The soils are schist with gravel covering in some areas. The climate is temperate maritime, drier over Anjou-Villages Brissac.

Yves Lambert, Domaine de Saint Just, Saumur Champigny 2013

Yves Lambert, Domaine de Saint Just, Saumur Champigny 2013. Appellation Saumur Champigny Controlee. Cabernet Franc. Dry light red - ruby red with dark reflections. Ripe, a powerful nose with candied fruit and pepper. Medium bodied and dry with generous and intense flavour, fruit and spicy.

Antoine Sanzay, Saumur Champigny 2011

Antoine Sanzay, Saumur Champigny 2011. Appellation Saumur Champigny Controlee (created in 1957). Cabernet Franc - light to medium bodied, often with vegetal characteristics, in particular green bell peppers. Sometimes, wrongly identified as unripe Cabernet Sauvignon.

Domaine de la Garenne, Sancerre 2013

Domaine de la Garenne, Sancerre 2013. Appellation Sancerre Controlee. Sauvignon Blanc - white, bracingly acid with a pungent aroma of gooseberries, grass, nettles and some minerality.

Chateau de Breze, Samur

Chateau de Breze, Samur. Appellation Samur Controlee 2012. Chenin de Breze. Chenin Blanc. Light gold. Intense now of white flesh fruits over a mineral and spicy background. Some exotic aromas.

Bernard Robineau et fille, Domaine de Breugnon, Pouilly Fume 2014. Sauvignon Blanc - white wine, green and flinty. Good with; pork, shellfish, spicy foods, vegetarian foods, goats cheese.

Laurent Botineau, L'Archers Muscadet Sevre et Maine 2013

Laurent Botineau, L'Archers Muscadet Sevre et Maine sur lie. Region: Pays Nantais Grape: Muscat Blanc. Good with shellfish, appetisers, snacks, lean fish and as aperitif.

Domaine Ogereau 2013, Anjou Villages

Domaine Ogereau 2013, Anjou Villages. Cabernet Sauvignon 14% ABV. Average price circa £15.00. Serve with beef and venison. Critics mark it as one of top 10 Anjou Villages wines.

Domaine de Montgilet, Anjou Gamay

Domaine de Montgilet, Anjou Gamay. Victor and Vincent Lebreton. Critics note that it is more affordable than many typical Anjou reds. It is a light and perfumed red. Serve with meat and oily fish.

Les Hauts Buis 2014, Anjou

Les Hauts Buis 2014, Appellation Anjou Controlee. Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Serve at 15C. 12.5% ABV.

Suisse Normande - May 2015 (Samur)

Brut, Val de Loire, Samur from Louis Foulon. Methode Traditionnelle. Cremant de Loire. An excellent wine.
A good Cremant de Loire has tight, persistent effervescence (a defining advantage of methode traditionelle wines over those made by other techniques), and a complex, nutty, gently honeyed nose. Chenin Blanc in these wines is responsible for floral aromas than those found in Champagne, and are emphasized in those wines subject to extended lees contact (most Cremant spends at least 9 months in bottle during and following its secondary fermentation).

Chinon - Les Granges 2010

Chinon - Les Granges 2010

Bernard Baudry

I was given this fine Chinon to try by our French Food & Beverage manager, who is passionate about wine and is always keen to encourage my love of French wine. The wine had already been sampled but I was more than happy to enjoy the rest of the bottle at my leisure. I have always enjoyed the red wines produced in the Loire Valley, but they are not always easy to get here in the UK. As a family, we would regularly bring back bottles of Chinon from trips to France.

This was a lovely wine to enjoy on a leisurely Friday evening. It had great colour and a complexity of aromas that was surprising. Mixed with the soft fruit there was an almost contrasting aroma, a counterpoint, something with strong backbone (my beloved described as almost a rubber tyre smell). A real puzzle of a wine - but lovely to savour. It also has a large amount of sediment in the bottle, not something that is allowed in any supermarket specification. An original French wine; and a wine like this is a real pleasure to be puzzled by.

Mis en bouteille a la propriete.
EARL Bernard Baudry.
12.5%
Cabernet Franc
Graviers Argilo Siliceux
Sols travailles sans utilisation des desherbants et d'engrais chimiques.
Vendange manuelle.

Pouilly-Fume 2012

Pouilly-Fume 2012

Domaine Thibault

We enjoyed this fresh bottle of Pouilly Fume when we ate out on our final night in Amsterdam. We chose to visit the Restaurant Vlaming on Prisengracht, which was outstanding. I ate a trio of fish to start, followed by sea bass in a Noilly Prat sauce. My beloved did not choose the sea bass and I think she regretted it (she chose a vegetarian tart) - the sea bass was wonderfully cooked. The food and the service at Restaurant Vlaming was excellent and the Pouilly Fume was very pleasant. A lovely evening.

Domaine des Aubuisieres 2012

Domaine des Aubuisieres 2012

Cuvee de Perruches, Bernard Fouquet

Vouvray

As I have got older, I have more fully appreciated the taste and texture of oysters. Oysters are great at this time of year, even though the season seems less appealing, as a time to eat and enjoy these seafood treats. But fresh from the shell (managed without stabbing myself), and just a touch of lemon juice and these Fowey oysters were an outstanding Christmas treat.

Afterwards, a glass of vouvray from Domaine des Aubisieres. Again, something that might seem out of season, a wine that I associate more with summer lunches but the combination was sympathetic and uplifting. That hint of summer freshness and beauty after a night of winter storms and flooding was most welcome.

Label notes:

The Domaine des Aubuisiere's vineyards are planted on the gentle limstone 'tuf' slopes of Vouvray in the heart of the Loire Valley.

Made from 100% Chenin Blance grapes which were specifically selected at full ripeness before being hand harested, this wine was fermented at cool temperatures in the estate's rock-hewn cellars and bottled as early as possible to catch all the freshness of the grape.

A delicious dry white wine with great breadth of flavour, it makes a wonderful aperitif and is a great match for Chinese food, roast quail or even swordfish with capers.


£9.99 from Majestic Wine

Chateau du Cleray 2012 - Haute Culture Sauvion

Chateau du Cleray 2012 - Haute Culture Sauvion

Muscadet Severe et Maine - Sur Lie

On his many trips to France, my father would always return proudly showing (or talking about) the bottles of Muscadet (always 'sur lie') that he had purchased on his trip. He loved drinking this wine, although he normally drank red wine and even though the rest of the family did not share his passion for Muscadet!

For me, both name and the first sip of a Muscadet is very evocative. It brings back fond memories of my father and great memories of many meals of fresh seafood eaten around the coast of Brittany. Moules and Muscadet under the warm Breton sun - refreshingly simple yet somehow elegant.

label notes:

The Chateau du Cleray, in the heart of the Nantes vineyards of the western Loire, is one of the oldest estates of the region. The pride of the Sauvion family, this world famous wine benefits from its unique terroir - sand and clay on granite and schist - and also from the Haute Culture signature. The result is an intensely mineral, full-bodied Muscadet with citrus and apple aromas backed with hints of mint and lime-flower. Served chilled from an ice-bucket, it is delicous as an aperitif and the ideal accompaniment to fish and seafood.

Purchased from Majestic Wine at £9.99