Soirée de la moderation, discretion et surtout discrimination ......

4 August 2009

The line up

Back in the Loire arriving just in time to entertain Wink Lorch and Brett Jones of The Wine Travel Guides. They have been spending a few days in the Loire, which has included eating at two of the Loire's most interesting restaurants – C'Heu le Zib in Menetou-Salon and La Promenade in Le Petit-Pressigny. Both establishments I'm happy to report had met their expectations.

With a nice warm evening we are able to eat outside and take the opportunity to look at one or two bottles.

1986 Clos du Bourg Moelleux Vouvray Domaine Huet

We started with the 1986 Clos du Bourg Moelleux, Vouvray, Huet SA. As is so often the case with the Huet wines it is very difficult to judge the age of this wine from the colour, which is light gold – paler than you might imagine a 23 year old wine would be. Delicately sweet and beautifully balanced with crisp, precise acidity, this made a very fine apéritif. There was some discussion whether this really was a moelleux. It certainly wasn't demi-sec – too much residual sugar. My guess is that it has between 50 and 65 grams of residual sugar. This is, however, very much a guess as the acidity probably masks to sugar and makes the wine appear drier than it is analytically.

It is also I fancy an assumption that moelleux means sweet enough to drink with a dessert, which is often not the case. This, of course, underlines the stupidity of those who insist on describing all sweet wines as dessert wines.(I could go on at some length here but won't on this occasion.) This Clos du Bourg would be murdered by a dessert but as well as being a lovely apero would have been good with cheese, creamy pork and chicken dishes. It might also work well with sautéd Coquilles Saint Jacques.

2007 Montées des Roches, Saumur-Champigny, Domaine Saint-Just

With the simple warm salad of lardons and goats' cheese (from Epeigné-les-Bois) the surprisingly rich, supple and delicious 2007 Montées des-Roches, Saumur-Champigny slipped down a treat with the accent very much on its generous black fruits.

1999 Château de Villeneuve Vieilles Vignes

For the main course – plain roast chicken – we had a small, slightly lopsided vertical of Saumur-Champignys from Château de Villeneuve. Firstly the still youthful 1999 Vieilles Vignes followed by the fine 1997 Le Grand Clos. We discussed whether I had chosen to serve these two in the right order – given that the 1999 is still quite grippy, while the 1997 has more finesse and the soft, opulence that the flattering 1997s have always had. Although an argument could be made for putting the 1997 first, I think that as the 1997 Grand Clos has more complexity then it was better off being served after the 1999. However, the 1997 Grand Clos is not as good as the marvellous 1996.

1997 Le Grand Clos, Château de Villeneuve

For cheese we had two wines that included the one failure of the evening – the 1990 Château de Hureau Saumur Blanc 9Philippe Vatan), which was a bit oxidised and now past it. Brett kindly suggested that the 1990 was a painted lady with fading charms. I'm more inclined to feel that the wine's charm had faded. Not that this was in anyway Philippe's fault but mine for not drinking this earlier. His 1990 Saumur Blanc was a real revelation and an inspiration in the early to mid 1990s, showing what could be done with Saumur Blanc.

1990 Saumur Blanc, Château de Hureau

1994 Vin de Paille, Côtes du Jura, Alain Labet

Wink Lorch

Wink is a leading expert on the wines of the Jura and Savoie and she and Brett kindly brought along this 1994 Vin de Paille, Côtes du Jura from Alain Labet, a producer in Rotalier. Considerably sweeter than the Huet Moelleux, with its raisiny and nutty characteristics this is much in the style of an Italian Vino Santo. It was good with the cheese (Comté and some Gongonzola) as well as the raspberry tarts that completed the meal.

1990 Coteaux du Layon Saint-Aubin, Domaine Gaudard, Pierre Aguilas

With the raspberry tarts we also tried Pierre Aguilas' attractively honeyed and delicate 1990 Layon which was a good match with the strawberries. Pierre is now a grand fromage in French wine administration as he is now president of the Confédération nationale des producteurs de vins et eaux-de-vie de vin à appellations d’origine contrôlées (CNAOC).

The forecast is promising us a couple of fine days to enjoy the sunshine before rain sets in on Friday and Saturday.