Le Jardin du France, or Chateau Central, the lovely Loire Valley offers a full array of wines from light, tart whites and reds, to sparkling dry and off-dry and opulent dessert wines. Natural acids are high in these wines, giving them outstanding table manners and the ability to age gracefully. Here are a few of my recent favorites:

2006 Domaine Laporte Sancerre Domaine du Rochoy $28  – with grassy, canned pea, green bell pepper, wildflower and camomile notes and brisk acidity there is no doubt this is classic Loire Sauvignon Blanc. This is an excellent aperitif, especially if you are out of Champagne.

2004 Chateau du Tracy Pouilly-Fume $32 – this Loire Sauvignon Blanc is softer and silkier than the Laporte Sancerre due in part to its age. In addition to the canned pea/canned asparagus notes it is floral and honeyed and has soft peach, pear, and apple notes. The finish is clean, fresh, and powdery.

2004 Domaine Aux Moines Savennieres Roche aux Moines $24- Savennieres is an unusual bone dry white wine made with botrytis-infected Chenin Blanc. It is an acquired taste. From one of the two unofficial Grand Crus, this Savennieres has notes of mineral, chalk, slate, lanolin, must, damp leaves, honey, caramel, and browning butter. Those honeyed, lanolin flavors of botrytis are very enticing and the bright acids are refreshing.

1994 Domaine aux Moines Savennieres Roche aux Moines $26 - yes, you read that correctly. A 1994 for $26. Savennieres is a weird wine after all. And with age the botrytis character on a bone dry wine (we are more used to encountering botrytis with wines like Sauternes for example) becomes almost iodine-like. In fact, this wine smells like an oyster bed and tastes of the sea. It is very silky and delicate in structure, if not flavor, and has a long, honeyed finish.

2006 Champalou Vouvray Cuvee des Fondraux $18 – this slightly sweet Chenin Blanc has enticing notes of roasted chestnuts, almond biscotti, wax, lanolin, apple, pear, orange, and pink grapefruit. It is beautifully balanced.

1990 Prince Poniatowski Vouvray Moelleux Clos Baudoin $28  – another contender for “wines I will never order on the first date” based on its cumbersome name, the wine itself is a gem. This well-aged semi-sweet, botrytis-infected Chenin Blanc has notes of honey, honeysuckle, lanolin, candle wax, lemon curd, orange marmalade, candied ginger, banana pudding and creme brulee. It is soft, silky, and pretty and has a long, sweet finish.

2004 Domaine Baumard Coteaux du Layon Clos du Sainte Catherine $46 – this is a very sweet, dessert style wine made with botrytis-infected Chenin Blanc.  It is very viscous and soft with delicate flavors of peach, apricot, mango, tangerine, orange peel, fennel seed, sage, wildflowers, wax, baking powder, and nilla wafer. It is very well balanced and has a long, waxy finish.

2006 Domaine de la Chanteleuserie Bourgueil $15 – light and earthy with plum, tart cherry, spice and saddle notes, this cool climate Cabernet Franc is subtle and grippy on the palate with fruit tannins showing through. It does open up and soften with aeration. This is a very good wine for the price.

2005 Charles Joguet Chinon Clos du Chene Verts $45 – the King of Loire Cabernet Francs, Chinon is more highly regarded than sister appellation Bourgueil. This deep, rich wine has opulent fruit notes of blackberry, plum, cherry, and boysenberry, along with cinnamon, nutmeg, star anise, licorice, rose petal, and wet saddle notes. It is slightly grippy on the finish and has a nice juiciness from natural acidity.

While this isolated dual-identity region cut off from France by the Vosges Mountains (it was part of Germany more than once) may look and feel very foursquare and traditional, its wines are anything but. Mostly white, many off dry or even decadently sweet, and mostly labelled by varietal – Riesling, Pinot Gris, Muscat and Gewurztraminer are the big four – these are some of the most exotic, heady, perfumed and sensuous wines in the world. They happen to pair beautifully with sexy foods too, like Foie Gras, Sushi, Duck a l’Orange and Fig, or with your favorite Satay.

Here are a few outstanding recent releases:

2006 Josmeyer Pinot Gris “Le Fromenteau” $40  - Aromas and flavors of lemon drop, candied orange, candied ginger, mineral, and rising bread dough. Medium-bodied and dry with a long, tangy sour lemon finish.

2001 Trimbach Riesling Cuvee Frederic Emile $48 – This is one wild ride for Riesling. The wine demonstrates a striking balance between billowy, exotic tropical fruit, lemon curd, orange marmalade, wildflowers, sage, verveine, and camomile, and a hard core of steely slatey minerality. It is bone dry, exquisitely balanced, and has a long life ahead.

2005 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Cuvee Laurence $60 – This sweet, soft, unctuous and silky wine has classic varietal markers – rose petal, lychee, kumquat, violet – along with that sweet-tart, honeyed Alsatian tanginess. The finish is off dry with bright apple notes and the richness of the wine is nicely balanced with natural acidity.

2003 Marcel Deiss Schoenenbourg Grand Cru $110 – A blend of Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and other local white varieties all grown biodynamically, this wine is not fruit forward at all. In fact, it is quite tightly wound at the moment, more minerally and honeyed with notes of sage, and fennel, and just a bit of lemon. It is full-bodied and off dry, with 50 g/l but the sugar too is hiding out under the layers and layers of complexity just waiting to come out as the wine matures.

2003 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Selection des Grains Nobles 375ml $120 – Amber in color, this intensely sweet, decadent wine has an intense perfume of lanolin, candle wax, lemon peel, browning apple, caramel, honey, pineapple in syrup, and fruit cake. On the palate it is soft and round with layers of candied fruits, spice, honey, and lavender. Acids are beautifully integrated and give balance and an underlying lightness despite the extremely high residual sugar (240 g/l).

 Sommelier Journal October 2008

TERROIR Cole Ranch, Mendocino, California – Catherine Fallis MS, CWP

http://www.sommelierjournal.com/articles/article.aspx?year=2008&month=10&articlenum=44