Loire Odyssey, Part I - the Non-Chenin Whites

This was the first of three parts in our planned Loire-themed dinners put together by HM. I found this to be an extremely educational experience, and one which underlined how much good Loire wine can be drank for relatively low prices.

One big stand-out for me was the pair of Muscadet in Flight 1. Unlike the Sauvignon Blancs, we did not have a large representative range of big-name makers (no Guy Bossard, Marc Olivier, or Laneau-Papin wines for example), yet the two wines that we did have were every bit as good as the far pricier Sancerres and Pouilly-Fumes. Comparing them side by side was a real eye opener. Somehow, these two excellent wines, priced at under US$20 each were rated much lower on CT than the other wines we had on the day; but drinking them together, one was hard pressed to see why. Does cheap Muscadet suffer from an impression problem that makes people see them as nothing but easy summer quaffers then On the quality that our wines showed, they were far more than that and represented ridiculous value for money.

On to the Sauvignon Blancs on Flight 2. We had a far wider selection here, with some of the stars of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume reprsented, and even a NZ ringer thrown in. Even though one could pick up the varietal characterisitc in all the wines, the styles were so very varied. It was, to some extent, not even a matter of terroir, but of the winemaker's hand. Nevertheless, stylistic preferences aside, there was also clear quality here. However, pricing in many cases would be far higher than the Muscadet, and good value is not something that can be necessarily ascribed to all the wines.

All in all A fantastic dinner. I am looking forward to Part 2, when we hit the reds.

• NV Veuve Moisans Brut 88 Points

  France, Loire Valley

  Surprisingly pleasant stuff. We all thought it was a cremant of some sort - but at this price and for what is the equivalent of a VDQS wine, this was really bang for the buck. I sure thought it was better than quite a few mediocre Champagne NVs. The nose was admittedly a bit strange, smelling like a mixture of socks and washed rind cheeses - very extreme at first, but the funk blows away slightly to show some neutral white fruit scents, mineral and toast, and some spice. With time, some musk and white flower accents start emerging. I liked the palate more though. Slightly creamy mousse. Herbs and brambles on the attack, shades of slightly oxidative apples after that, very neutral flavoured on the mid-palate, then spicy at the end with a minerally tail showing surprising persistence. Not all that serious in terms of weight and structure, but I found this to be very drinkable, balanced, and with no hard edges - all in all a very pleasant tipple.

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• 1999 Château de la Ragotière Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine sur lie 92 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Pays Nantais, Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine sur lie

  I really liked this. The nose showed classic salty scents, seashell, mineral and flint notes, alongside zesty white fruit with a touch of citrus and the tiniest hints of grassy herb scents. On the palate, it drank far younger than its 11 years, with a dry backbone and lots of bright acidity framing more salty seaside tones on the attack. There lovely depth and texture on the mid-palate which showed white fruit flavours laid over a bed of very flinty mineral and some citrus side notes before a brilliant dry finish that pulls away in the mouth. Good with oysters as expected, though not quite the epic pairing of the second muscadet. Still, the mouthwatering acidity cleansed the palate nicely for each new bite, and the oysters on their part brought out a rather attractive grassiness on the wine. Solid stuff.

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• 2008 Chéreau-Carré Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine sur lie 92 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Pays Nantais, Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine sur lie

  I really enjoyed this. The wine was good as is, but it was an absolutely epic pairing with the pacific oysters that we had - my impression may have been very skewed by that, but boy, it was a match made in heaven. On first pour, the wine had an almost oriental nose. Very flowery, with osmanthus, a touch of honeysuckle, and then almond creme scents, a touch of longan dofu, and even a bit of rice wine. The palate had lovely acidity, with lots of savoury, salty seaside flavours playing alongside white plums Choya liquor and a bit of spice before a long, sliding finish full of mineral and chinese tea notes. The wine had a dry grippy structure and some palate staining intensity wrapped up in a milky texture, almost oystery that way, with a bit of white chocolate at the edges. Good. But with the oysters - Wow! The acid, the saltiness and the texture of the wine just flowed into the oyster and then back out again, with both being amplified, yet it was so seamlessly done that you did not know where one stopped and the other began. Absolutely superb - one of the great food and wine experiences I have had.

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• 2004 Domaine de la Désoucherie Cour-Cheverny Cuvée Christian Tessier 90 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Cour-Cheverny

  My first Romorantin. A really unusual wine this. Pretty good, but like nothing I have tasted before - we actually thought this might be a very old Muscadet. The deep orange-amber colour of the wine certainly suggested that it was far older than 2004. Its nose showed a pleasant mix of orange blossoms, molasses, oyster shell, dried fruit zest, lots of honey, and some floaty flowers and spice - cardammon and cloves - all spiked with a little rancio character, again suggetsing a much older wine. The palate had a slightly milky sur lie texture, but it was overall a clean, dry wine. There were nice flavours of dried apricot with gingko nut accents floating in and out in a salty background. Past the midpalate, there was a bit of honey and more spice, almost cinnamon-like. Lots of interesting complexity I thought. The finish had decent length too, with an almost tannic waft of pu-er tea and some grippy mineral. Quite unexpectedly, it was a strangely good with Cantonese roast pork belly. A very interesting wine. Quite pleasant to drink too!

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• 2004 Didier Dagueneau Blanc Fumé de Pouilly 92 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Pouilly-Fumé

  This started out a little anonymous, but with some time in the glass it really grew into a very nice drink - one of my favourites on the night, standing toe-to-toe with a couple of Didier Daguneau's more expensive cuvees. The nose here bore more than a passing resemblance to the pair of Muscadets on the first flight in its savoury, seashelly character and white plum scents. However, this was spiked with a touch of gooseberry and a hint of cat's pee. Very Sauvignon Blanc there. This was even clearer on the palate, which showed deceptively simple flavours of grass, gooseberry and lemons spread over some snappy acidity. I say deceptively simple because the wine fans out quite dramatically into a creamily textured midpalate after some time and air, with textured layers of guava and white plums spiked with citrus and lime moving into a decently long finish were a whole lot more salty, savoury notes lingered on the palate alongside a backdrop of floral hightones. This really only came into its own towards the end of the dinner, and I can only imagine that the wine would have gotten even better if we gave it even more time.

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• 1999 Alphonse Mellot Sancerre La Moussière 91 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre

  Very nice for what is supposed to be an entry level Sancerre. This was probably the wine that showed the best on the night and, if anything, I actually preferred it to the higher-end Mellot on the same flight. The nose was actually quite sweetly fruited for a Sancerre, with ripe lemons layered over tropical touches and a tiny bit of SB cat's piss. Pleasant, but the palate was more in line with what I normally associate with Sancerre - fresh, flinty, with nice lemon flavours and a twist of spice towards the finish just before a minerally note sets in. With time, some guava-ish notes emerged alongside the lemons. Subtle flavours, but the certainly lots of class, with a nice amount of depth and complexity - something that was increasingly obvious as we tasted this alongside the other Sauvignon Blancs on the flight. There was a little bit of alcohol in there, but hardly enough to distract from the wine's balance and poise. I liked this.

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• 1999 Henri Bourgeois Sancerre Les Baronnes 89 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre

  A very decent wine, but I did not like it as much as I thought I would with a Henri Bourgeois. If anything, I thought the oak and fruit here was just a little disjointed. It had a very bright nose with lots of expressive scents - gooseberry, passionfruit, green peppers, green pears, a touch of meadow herbs, grass and a little pee. Pleasant enough, but I could not decide how much I liked it. The palate came across as a bit of a ripe fat variety. It was bright and high-toned with lots of acid that kept it balanced and un-flabby, but there certainly was plenty of plump flesh as well. Flavour-wise, there was an ample amount of grass and spice, but also lots of ripe lemons and grapefruit in there. I thought it was nudging closer to NZ then Sancerre to be honest. The finish was decent enough, with a bit more spice and some capsicum and a strange , slightly disjointed layer of nutty popcorn fand roasty toasty smoke note hints floating around. Lots of acid. Bright. High-toned.

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• 2008 Clos Henri Sauvignon Blanc Petit Clos 92 Points

  New Zealand, South Island, Marlborough

  Very nice - strangely enough in a Loire dinner, this was one of my favourites of the night. We all thought this was the most "new-wordly" of the lot, so no surprises when it was unveiled as a ringer. Still though, a really nice wine. The bouquet was a whole nose full of SB, with a blast of grass, ripe gooseberries, passionfruit, green guava, pineapple and green mango scents. Tropical fruit galore really, just drizzled with an unmistakable hint of cat's pee. Very attractive though, and you could say the same about the palate. Ripe and bright, it was really expressive and very eager to please, with a citrus acid background and a very tropical pineapple and mango forefront all showing impeccably fresh, zesty balance. Very refreshing and exuberant all the way into the finish, which tails off with mouthfull of fruit - almost like a tropical fruit punch, full of pineapple, starfruit and pink guava with just a background of minerality that pulled us back to the old world. A very nice Marlborough SB indeed.

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• 1999 Alphonse Mellot Sancerre Edmond 90 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre

  Did not know quite what to make out of this wine. It obviously had some quality juice, but was just all that enjoyable, buried as it was under layers of sweet oak. It came about almost as a bit over "made". The nose showed sweet corn galore, almost corn bread-like mixed up with some popcorn scents. Hard to get past that. The palate was a bit better, but there was so much popcorny oak on the attack that it more about masks other flavours, so that I could hardly pick out the sweet lemons underneath. The finish was all toffee, caramel and more nutty popcorn. There was clearly good balance . In spite of some obvious richness, there was a backbone of zippy acidity and solid core which showed nice depth and structure. Will the oak unveil and reveal something special in the years down the road I am really not sure. At the moment, it remains a wine with good raw material, but all rather tight and buried.

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• 2007 Didier Dagueneau Silex 92 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Pouilly-Fumé

  A very good wine, but nowehere near as good as it should be given its price tag and reputation. This had always been one of my very favourite bottlings to come out of the Loire, but on the day, served blind, it was neither more or less outstanding than the best couple of other (much cheaper) Loire whites on show. Granted, it was still very young and will need plenty more time to show, but it was nowehere near the heights of previous bottles of Silex from the vintages that immediately preceded this (i.e. 2004, 2005 or 2006). Sure, this had a lovely nose, with touches of grass, passionfruit, green guava and a bit of chalky earth. Still tight, but very pleasant in an unshowy way. The palate still had a long way to go though. There was great balance - this much was obvious, with really well-integrated acidity forming a backdrop for rather simple, primary flavours of sweet lemons flecked with green grass and gooseberry notes on the attack. There was nice depth, along with a very classy, silky feel on the midpalate moving into a long juicy finish was more citrus fruit notes - lemons and tangerines I thought - alongside some flassic flint and nutty accents. All very tight and monolithic at this stage though. It did open up slowly in the glass, but this is a wine clearly deserves a few more years before broaching again. Right now clearly good, but not quite great. It lacked something in terms of both the breadth of expression and the precision of focus that I usually look for in a Silex. I liked the wine, but must confessed that I felt a twinge of disappointment when it was unveiled. Time might still transform this bottle into something else - but at the moment, not quite worth the entry fee.

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• 2008 Didier Dagueneau Pur Sang 93 Points

  France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Pouilly-Fumé

  Good, solid stuff. I enjoyed this quite a bit more than a very tight 2007 Silex poured just before. Nose was nicely experssive here, with gooseberry, grapefruit and guava mixed in with hints of pee and plenty of chalk and flint. The palate impressed with a mouthfull of flavour led by lovely sweet lemon and grapefruit notes and followed up by smoke and toast accents. Lots of texture and conplexity for such a young wine, and some absolutely lovely balance as well. A long juicy finish full of lovely citrus notes rounded the wine off. First class juice this - probably my favourite wine of the night.

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• 2006 Marie-Thérèse Chappaz Petite Arvine Grain Noble

  Switzerland, Valais, Fully

  A unique experience this - my first Swiss wine and my first Valais. This was so sweet that I found it impossible to assess. The nose was all honeyed, with sultanas and spice sprinkled with some musk. A real blast of sweet scents, which gave some sense of what the palate would be like. Super sweet here. Thick, viscous, oily, like a mouthfull of liquified sultanas soaked in honey and then mixed with a pot full of mollases. Only at the finish that the sweetness let of somewhat to show candied grapefruit notes and a little salty twang. Mind-numbingly sweet stuff. There was a spike of acidity in there, but the sugar level was so high one had to concentrate to find it. woah...

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