2014 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur lie Château de l’Oiselinière de la Ramée. Bernard Chéreau £8.99
2014 Petit Bourgeois - Sauvignon Blanc, IGP Val de Loire Domaine Henri Bourgeois - £10.50 screwcapped
Pungently gooseberry and grassy – even a hint a cat’s pee when first opened, this is made from grapes sourced mainly in Touraine. The Bourgeois are well known for paying above the normal négociant price for good quality grapes.
2014 Reuilly Blanc Domaine du Chêne Vert, Domaine Valéry Renaudat £11.99
White Reuilly has to be made from 100% Sauvignon Blanc, Blanc Renaudat’s Reuilly won a good number of friends here. It is more restrained than the Petit Bourgeois but has good concentration and would benefit from more time in bottle as it is quite tight in the finish.
From Valéry Renaudat’s website: ‘Né en Berry, je débute mon expérience professionnelle aux Etats-Unis, avant de revenir parfaire mes connaissances dans le Bordelais et en Bourgogne. En 1999, je m'installe sur 2.5 ha de vignes répartis sur les deux appellations : AOC Reuilly et AOC Quincy. Aujourd’hui, avec mon équipe, j'exploite 18 hectares avec les cépages sauvignon, pinot noir et pinot gris.’
2013 Menetou Salon Le Prieuré des Aublats Domaine Henri Bourgeois
2014 Château de l’Abbaye Morlat, Pouilly-Fumé £14.99
2012 Sancerre Rouge La Croix Renaud Clément et Florian Berthier
Over the last 20 years there has been a revolution in the quality and ambition of the Pinot Noirs from the Central Loire Vineyards. This medium weight Sancerre Red has attractive, delicate red cherry fruit. Their 2014 is likely to have more concentration. The Berthiers also make a good, pure Pinot Noir in the Coteaux du Giennois – called Inedit, which is stocked by Cambridge Wine Merchants but was not in the tasting.
2014 Cuvée du Domaine, Bourgueil Joël Taluau and Thierry Foltzenlogel £9.99
This well-known domaine has 28 hectares four of them in Bourgueil and the rest in Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil. Sadly Joël Taluau died suddenly in June 2013. The estate is now run by Thierry Foltzenlogel, the son in law, and Clarisse his wife and Joël’s daughter.
2012 La Chapelle, Chinon, Domaine La Jalousie, Cravant-les-Coteaux £18.99
The prestige cuvée from Domaine de la Jalouise. This softly and quite lightly textured wine raises the interesting question whether it is worth releasing a prestige in a difficult vintage like 2012, especially when it will be compared to vintages like 2014. It is difficult to claim that the 2012 Chapellle is worth paying nearly twice the sum that will secure a bottle of the Taluau and Foltzenlogel Bourgueil. I know which one I would buy…..
2011 Coteaux du Layon Tri de Vendange Domaine du Landreau £19.99
2011 is a very good sweet wine vintage and this attractive Layon is delicately sweet without huge concentration, which makes it a more versatile than a super-concentrated cuvée. As such it shows the stupidity of referring to these sweet wines as dessert wines. This 2011 will be much better drunk as an aperitif, with blue and hard cheeses rather than many desserts, which will tend to mask the sweetness and heighten the acidity. Alternatively enjoy a glass at the end of a meal in place of a dessert.
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