Greetings fellow Bottle Foragers!
As part of relaunching this blog in 2025 and dedicating the year to what I like to proclaim "Drinking with a purpose!" I present my first bottomless rabbit hole...
the Loire Valley, France.
It is these ripe fruits on the vine that will dictate the focus of this deep dive which I am aptly calling...
I have always been a fan of Loire wines. From my first sip of a crisp clean Muscadet (Melon de Bourgogne), to the mysterious woodsy herbaceous red fruits of Cabernet Franc, crisp mineral Sauvignon Blancs and the mind bending variation of the glorious Chenin Blanc! Time after time, I would arrive at wine shows tasting through the vast seas of esteemed wine regions and high price tag bottles of Burgundy and Chateauneuf du Pape, trying to get a foot hold on the world of French wines and always there stood this little engine that could, the Loire Valley.
Geographically the Loire is a grand wine growing region that follows the route of the Loire River which begins at the foot of Mont Gerbier de Jonc in the Massif region to the southwest of Burgundy, where it flows north through the town of Nevers & Orleans then turns west through Tours, Angers & Nantes where it opens into the Atlantic Ocean. Along this river lies some of my favorite wine appellations. From Sancerre to Chinon, Muscadet to Vouvray, Montlouis to Bourgueil... the breadth of the Loire has a complex and diverse influence on the world of wine and my appreciation for it only deepens the further I forage and learn.
The projects idea came to me while sipping through a bottle of Chenin Blanc that I snagged off a closeout list from a local Maine distributor just after the new year. What is a closeout? Well, this bottle I was sipping on typically cost $15-20, but due to circumstances that I can only speculate on, they wanted to move it along and offered it at a deep discount. I am always on the lookout for these opportunities. One reason is, well honestly, who doesn't love a good sale? Second is sometimes its takes a "great value" to get a wine customer to go out of their comfort zone. Finding great wines that typically sell for $25 and being able to offer it for $12-15 will always get people to try something new. Now occasionally these "closeouts" aren't all they are cracked up to be and simply are just old wines past their prime, but occasionally and more often then not, wines from lesser know regions or less mainstream grape varietals are the gems to watch for! Chenin Blanc being an age worthy white, is a prime example of what I like to watch for and because of these finds, I have turned a few less adventurous wine drinkers into Chenin Blanc fans! Anyway, here I am sipping on a glass of Chenin Blanc from the producer Fabien Deveau and just being blown away by its complexity all the while I am flipping through a wine book called "the Sommelier's Atlas of Taste" that I got as gift this past holiday season. As I flipped through the pictures I came across a picture of Chenin Blanc hanging on the vine and started to sift through the words on the page and the moment struck me. I needed to understand more about these wines and the places they are from. I have the basic understandings but my understanding is more in tasting a lot of wines from the area and vague public school geographic ideas of France and its place on earth. Obviously, I have more knowledge than that, as through the years of wine seminars and producers and importers pulling up maps on their tablets and explaining why this wine has more of this based on the way the winds prevail from this body of water or how the mountains to the west trap the warm air over here to lengthen the growing season yadda, yadda, all good info but many times its in one ear and out the other unless the wine is a show stopper and maybe I gaze back at the map and absorb a little more knowledge and understanding to try to catalog this wines place in my tasting journey and ask some questions as I try to gain more insight into why the current wine in my glass is so tasty! Back to my chair and this Fabien Deveau, as I sat there and gazed at the words of a Master Sommelier describe the different soils of Vouvray and how those compared to Savienniers, both world class appellations of Chenin Blanc producers, my decision was made. I need to learn more about the Loire and gain a better understanding of why and who produces these delicious beverages that have demanded my attention over the past 20yrs of drinking them. And anyone that knows me, knows when I get something in my head, I am all in! Have I told you about how my wife (then girlfriend) and I ate a 100% Maine Grown diet for a full year and blogged about it everyday, or how I recognized the nuances of a Japanese bass player on a jazz album I was listening too and three years later I was trying to decode jazz books written in kanji as my vinyl collection turned its focus into a now epic catalog of Japanese jazz that now resides in my studio. I could go on in on on my deep dives... but lets keep our focus on Loire!
I quickly proceeded to do what I do best. Dive in head first and now currently typing this I have spent the last month or so of diving deep into all things Loire! My first step was to break down the Loire into parts and then decided to just focus on two main grape varieties and the different regions they are produced in the Loire.
Cabernet Franc (Chinon/Anjou/ Saumur Champigny/ Bourgeuil)
Chenin Blanc (Saumur/Vouvray/Moutlouis/Savienniers)
From there I scoured through my wine books and bookmarked all related chapters, ordered the best book I could find, simply called "Wines of the Loire Valley" by Beverley Blanning and supplemented those avenues by plugging into any Loire related podcast during my workday and unwinding after the kiddo goes to bed by clicking through YouTube videos as I absorbed and contrasted information and compared notes and just geek out like I tend to do. Along with the information superhighway, I also reached out to my favorite wine educator who probably has shared some of my most memorable Loire Valley wines with me and got his advice on approach and producers to compare and contrast.
Gathering, absorbing and contrasting all this information, I was now ready to forage. The easiest first stop and most cost effective was our own personal cellar. I pulled all the Loire Valley wines we had squirrelled away over the last couple years sorted through chenins and cab franc and then spent the last few weeks scouring our local wine distributors books for the right balance of wine that fit my budget and would allow me to get a broad view of these two grapes and the places that produce them! Along with special ordering a few, I also branched out to a few select shops in town to see what kind of gems they may be hiding. All that said and done and we have quite the line up of wines to explore on this journey and the time has come to not only tell you, my cherished readers, but also to start opening some of these and experiencing the precious gift that is Loire Valley wine!
The Wines...
***CABERNET FRANC***
CHINON
Olga Raffault Les Picasses 2017
Dom Pallus Les Pensees Pallus 2018
Chat Petit Thouars L’Amiral 2018
Dom Pallus Messanger Rouge 2020
Couly-Dutheil La
Coulee Automnale 2020
Bernard Baudry Les Grezeaux Chinon 2021
Charles Joguet Les Varennes du Grand Clos 2020
Charles Joguet Clos du Chene Vert 2020
Charles Joguet Clos de la Dioterie 2020
Charles Joguet La Cure 2021
ANJOU
Chat Bois-Brincon BB Anjou Rouge 2021
Nicolas Reau Ange Rouge 2022
SAUMUR CHAMPIGNY
Clotilde Legrand Les Terrager 2019
Chateau du Hureau Lisagathe 2014
Chateau du Hureau Tuffe 2021
Fabien Duveau Les Menais 2021
Dom des Roches Nueves Terres Chaudes 2022
Dom des Roches 'Domaine' 2023
Chateau Yvonne Le Beaumeray 2019
Chateau Yvonne La Folie 2022
Chateau Yvonne L’Ile Quatre Sour 2022
BOURGUEIL
Amirault Le Clos des Quaterons 2019
Chevalerie Bourgueil 2019
Dom de la Cotelleraie Les Perruches 2019
Dom de la Cotelleraie Les Mauguerets 2020
Dom de la Cotelleraie Pigeur Fou 2020
Domaine du Bel Air Les Vingt Lieux Dits 2020
Dom de la Chanteleuserie
Beauvais 2023
Dom de la Chanteleuserie Alouettes 2023
C & P Breton Trinch 2023
OTHER
Patrick Corbineau Le Clos 2021
***CHENIN BLANC***
SPARKLING
Champalou Brut NV
Guadrelle L’Extra Brut 2016
Dom Huet Petillant Brut 2019
Chidaine Montlouis Reserve 2022
VOUVRAY
Dom Nicolas Brunet Vouvray Sec 2014
Clos Naudin Foreau Vouvray Sec 2017
Florent Cosme Grosse Pierre Sec 2022
Guadrelle Ammonite Vouvray Sec 2022
Francis Pinon Vouvray Sec 2022
Francis Pinon Vouvray Les Deronnieres Sec 2022
Francis Pinon Buvez du Bon Pinon 2022
Francis Pinon Vouvray Solera NV
Champalou Vouvray Sec 2023
Champlaou Vouvray Les Fondraux 2023
Dom Huet Clos du Bourg Sec 2023
Dom Huet Le Haut-Lieu Sec 2023
Dom Huet Le Mont Sec 2023
Dom Huet Le Mont Moelleux 2023
Dom du Clos de L’Epinay Chaflorie 2023
MONTLOUIS
Chidaine Clos Habert 2019
Chidaine Clos Breuil 2022
Chidaine Les Boumais 2020
SAVIENNIERES
Domaine du Closel La Jalousie 2021
Domaine Laureau L’Alliance 2019
Chateau de Varennes Savennieres 2019
Domaine de Baumard Clos du Papillon 2019
SAUMUR BLANC
Domaine Belgarus Ronceray 2019
Emmanuel Haget Anitya 2019
Bruno Dubois Les Peruches 2020
Chat Bois-Brincon Anjou Blanc Terre de Gres 2020
Domaine Guiberteau Breze 2021
Clotilde Legrand A L’Ecart 2021
Chateau Yvonne Saumur Blanc 2022
Nicolas Reau Attention Chenin Merchant 2023
Thierry Germain L’Insolite 2023
Chateau Soucherie Anjou Blanc Les Rangs De Long 2023
OTHER
Couly-Dutheil Chinon Les Chanteaux 2021
Janvier Coteaux du Loire 2022
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