Wine with Leslie: The soft reds of Chinon and the light whites of Muscadet
Wine with Leslie: looking at the reds of Chinon
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Loire Valley, the nearest wine region to Ireland and easily accessible if you are taking the boat to France this summer.Â
There is such a diversity in the Loire I could fill several columns so this week I’m focusing on Muscadet and the reds of Chinon.
I feature two Chinon Cabernet Francs below but don’t forget the other great Cab-Franc villages such as Bourgueil, St. Nicholas de Bourgueil, Saumur, Saumur Champigny and of course Anjou Villages in general. These reds are perfect for Summer as they are best served a little cool and have light and crunchy red fruit flavours.Â
They also tend to be lower in alcohol than wines from other French regions - the two below are 12% ABV.
Chinon is a beautiful town to visit and was the hometown of François Rabelais who wrote the comic Gargantua and Pantagruel stories about the adventures of two giants - you will find some of their outsized belongings scattered throughout the town.
If Chinon makes the softest reds of the region then Muscadet, south of Nantes, makes the lightest whites - ideal for seafood. The Muscadet grape is Melon-de-Bourgogne and their searingly dry wines are having a bit of a renaissance.
The Loire Valley is famed for another culinary wonder and that is of course Goat’s Cheese which comes in many different shapes all tasting slightly different. There are at least 16 varieties with six having AOP status.Â
Easiest to find are Sainte-Maure de Touraine and Valençay along with Selles-Sur-Cher, Pouilly Saint-Pierre and Crottin de Chavignol. if you can’t find Loire goat’s cheese just seek out St. Tola from Co. Clare. These cheeses go remarkably well with Sauvignon Blanc and also with dry Chenin Blanc and even with demi-sec wines. With Valençay in mind, I recommend an interesting wine from that commune.
There is one non-Loire interloper from well known producer Marquis de Goulaine who have Irish Wine-Geese connections. The family has been making wine in the Loire for a millennium and I suspect they have been supplying Ireland with Muscadet for most of that time. All of this week’s suggestions are suited to the lighter foods of summer.
Classic Muscadet from granite soils and an elevated position where the grapes ripen a little later. Apple and citrus and a hint of ozone on the nose, rounded and almost creamy on first taste but then the saline stony tang of fine quality Melon grapes kicks in - bone dry, zingy and fresh.
I drank many a bottle of Marquis de Goulaine Muscadet in the 1990s so I was pleased to see it is still on form. This is the perfect wine for oysters and mussels with stony lemon and apple aromas with a touch of petrichor - textured apple fruits, tangy lime and citrus freshness on the finish.
An interloper as this is not from the Loire but is from a Languedoc estate owned by the Goulaine family who have been making wine in the Loire for over 1000 years. Bright purple fruits with black raspberry aromas and flavours, juicy and fresh and best served a little cool.
Valençay is south of Tours and also famed for its goat’s cheese (a squat pyramid shape). This is mostly Sauvignon with 15% Chardonnay - the grapes are co-fermented. Aromas of green apple, pear and peach intermingled (like the grapes), brisk acidity and freshness with rounded yellow peach notes, a perfect summer white.
The beautiful Château de Coulaine was built in 1470 and is worth a google, or better still a visit. Organic since 1997 this is old vine Cabernet Franc with berry fruit aromas and a touch of strawberry coulis - bright and juicy on the palate with complexity and structure underlining the lush red and black fruits. Delicious.
Olga Raffault took over this brilliant estate in 1947 and became a bit of a legend - these days her Grandaughter and great-grandson run the estate. Red fruits, pencil lead and strawberry leaf aromas, blackberry and strawberry fruit flavours and a pleasing crunch of freshness with lingering cranberries - outstanding.
Father’s Day is tomorrow and if you forgot then an online voucher is an option - CelticWhiskeyShop.com, MidletonDistilleryCollection.com or perhaps TheSingleMaltShop.com who have some nice exclusive and rare whiskies.
The Single Malt Shop held a tasting of their rarer whiskies recently and I particularly liked the Highland Park 21 (€375) which has salted caramel and wood smoke notes, and Skye’s Talisker 18 (€210) which has a fine balance between peat and honeyed dried fruits.
This Dalmore 15 has heavy Sherry influence with lots of dried fruits and baked honey aromas with a toffee and chocolate palate that lingers
