Pure Loire by Bougrier

 

Maison Bougrier's Crémant de Loire is a blend of Chenin and Chardonnay. This Crémant is well made. Although I suspect that with its striking label it is a popular choice I find that although I enjoy a glass the second is cloying. I would prefer a low dosage but my guess is that the current level is to many people's taste. It is available in Sweden for 16€.

Future AOC Amboise

Château d'Amboise

In February 2016 the INAO approved the creation of AOC Amboise – a redefinition and narrowing of AOC Touraine-Amboise. The red will be 100% Côt (Malbec), the white 100% Chenin and the rosé – a minimum of 70% Côt and a maximum of 30% Gamay. The Cuvée François 1, a blend of Gamay, Côt and Cabernet Franc and included in the existing Touraine-Amboise AC, is not included in the new appellation.

The new AOC will involve some 20 producers and the first vintage is expected to be 2017.    

Details from a press invitation:
'L’INAO a validé en février 2016, la demande du syndicat Touraine-Amboise pour la redéfinition d’une nouvelle appellation qui concerne une vingtaine de vignerons sur le territoire élargi d’Amboise.

Cette appellation se situe sur les 2 rives de la Loire et couvre une identification parcellaire d’une surface d’environ 200 hectares. Ce sera la seule AOC à proposer les 2 couleurs rouge issue à 100% du cépage Côt et blanc à 100% du cépage Chenin.
 
Trois couleurs au total y sont produites, avec un élevage des vins plus long :

Rouge : 100% Cot 

Blanc : 100% Chenin
Rosé : 70% de Cot au minimum et 30% de Gamay.

La première production de cette nouvelle AOC telle qu’elle est définie dans le cahier des charges, sortira en 2017. Mais certains vignerons ont déjà travaillé en ce sens et peuvent d’ores et déjà, en 2016, présenter des vins représentatifs de la future appellation.'

2014 Loire: close-ups of Chenin in Layon

Here are some close-ups of grapes in the Layon in the east of the commune of Rablay-sur-Layon. They were taken last Friday. They show noble rot developing, although it may not all be completely noble. Whether it remains that way will depend upon the weather.   

Telegraph scoop: Savennières turns to Sauvignon!

Sauvignon Blanc in Quincy 2008 – never in Savennières!

'Top 10 Loire wines – the value and variety of lesser-known labels can be surprising'
(Jonathan Ray, wine correspondent, Telegraph 31.1.09)
‘I love the Loire Valley. I love gawping at the exquisite fairytale châteaux and scoffing the fabulous seafood and confit de canard.

The sauvignons blancs (such as Menetou-Salon, Pouilly Fumé, Quincy, Sancerre and Savennières) make great aperitifs or partners to first courses….’

‘And if the top Sancerres and Pouilly Fumés are sometimes a bit pricey, then the less well-known (but often as good) sauvignons from Quincy, Reuilly or Savennières, say, rarely are.’


Oops Jonathan! Savennières is one of the glories of Chenin Blanc. Indeed it may have been its birthplace, although Jean-Hubert Lebreton (Domaine des Rochelles) surprised me last week by telling me that apparently Chenin’s origins may have been much further south in Les Landes. Anyway Chenin is mentioned growing at Bouchemaine in the 9th century. So a Savennières made from Sauvignon Blanc would be both ‘surprising’ and ‘less well-known’.

Also if I’m being picky, which I am, I agree about the ‘fabulous seafood’ but confit de canard is not a particular speciality of the Loire.

Jonathan, however, is right about Loire Sauvignon Blancs going well with first courses. A half bottle of the attractively citric 2007 Les Vignes Blanches, Sancerre, Henri Bourgeois was perfect with a duo of smoked salmon and gravalax yesterday.