The Loire Valley produce a ton of wine and this Chenin Blanc is a little different to the mass produced wines.
There are aromas of flowers and pear with flavours of ripe fruit, hints of pineapple and lemon. I love the orange hint in the colour, well maybe a bit more than a hint. Its a medium style wine that is a front of fire,comforty chair wine. At £7 a bottle very good value.
Cave du Vendômois, Chant’ Grives, Coteaux du Vendômois, France
The Loire valley produce some of the world’s greatest Cabernet Franc and this Les Clos de la Seigneurie, Cabernet Franc is half decent. Not amazing but worth drinking. It’s very dry and there’s aromas of cherry and redcurrant with flavours of sour cherry that seem to take over from the other red fruit that’s there, it’s just there other flavours are too subtle. It’s cheap Cabernet Franc that’s drinkable and easy going with food, in our case steak and ale pie with veg in front of the Christmas tree.
Les Clos de la Seigneurie, Cabernet Franc, Loire, France
Get a good Beaujolais because otherwise you are likely to be put off for years as it was in my case, this one from Château Bonnet is decent and a good one to start with.
Light, smooth and dry are 3 words i would start with to describe this wine. There are aromas and flavours of red fruits such as raspberry and cherry and also of plum and blueberry with a bit of pepper in there. Its not a complex wine but is very pleasant and easy drinking which is what a lot of consumers want. It reminds me of Australian wines 15 or 20 years a go when they had got it right, right what the consumer liked and wanted. Its just a shame that it costs about £18 a bottle.
Pair with pasta and lighter meat dishes, such as chicken.
Château Bonnet, Vieilles Vignes Chénas, 2017, Beaujolais, France
Domaine Huet know how to make a great Loire Cremant. At £30 a bottle it should be great, is it?
Made with Chenin Blanc this has lots of small bubbles and subtle aromas of lemon and blossom with pear in there. These feed into the taste with hints of green apple and a bit pineapple in the background. Its classy i’ll give it that. £30 is a little steep though.
Domaine Huet, Vouvray Petillant, 2014, Loire Valley, France
Majestic wine do have some crackers and this Cremant Blanc de Blancs from Domaine Papillon-Lavoignat in Burgundy shows off a cracker. Made in the traditional method with possible Aligote with Chardonnay. Its dry, fresh and fruit driven. delightful pale lemon it colour with pear, apple and lemon notes and creamy after note popping in there. Allow it to warm up a little to get the flavours as they are reasonable subtle. At £14 on a mix 6 at Majestic its a “spot on the money” excellent sparkling.
Domaine Papillon-Lavoignat, Cremant Blanc de Blancs, Burgundy, France
I have been drinking a lot of Bordeaux reds recently and you get the same style, big and red but different qualities and this Château Mancèdre from Pessac-Léognan south of Bordeaux is a good example a well made wine from the region. This wine was not great when opened but give it a few hours to open up and the aromas and flavours come out nicely.
This is a bold, tannic and very dry red wine, you can feel the heat of the sun ripening the grapes in the glass. There’s a lot of oak still showing through even after 8 years with smells of leather, tobacco and black fruits. Flavours of black cherry, cloves with under notes of vanilla and redcurrant. At £20 a bottle its not cheap and possibly a little overpriced but thats Bordeaux for you. Drink it with a beef or a tomato pasta dish and sip rather than gulp is my suggestion.
Château Mancèdre, Pessac-Léognan, 2012, Bordeaux, France
I’ve not had many dry white Bordeaux wines and this one from Château Guiraud was tasted by me and 3 other, all socially distancing in the garden, on a warm Sept evening.
There’s aromas of smoke and hints of minerals and citrus, on the taste front you get notes of gooseberry and citrus and a big wack of grapefruit. Its this grapefruit that we had an issue with which over powered the other elements. The colour is a lovely lively lemon and the length is good and its a bit heavier in the texture than most white wine, which is good but its too unbalanced.
We had it with a few spring rolls but I think a creamy pasta dish or fish with lemon and herbs would be needed to make this worth drinking. At £16 a bottle is a bit pricey and there are better Bordeaux whites out there I was told.
hâteau Guiraud, Bordeaux Blanc Sec, 2019, Bordeaux, France
A silver medalist at the Decanter world wine awards in 2018 this Domaine L’Argenteille, la Roche des Fees Terrasses Du Larzac red with 40% Syrah, 30% Mourvedre, 30% Cardigan and 10% Grenache is quite a mouthful.
Big hit of red cherry and redcurrant on the nose that follows through on the taste with a little spice. It’s very dry and pretty bold with a decent amount of finish. It’s the dry cherry finish that seems to take over. Have with food, pizza or meat dishes and its good or wait a day for it to open up and become smoother to have on its own. £12 a bottle it’s decent value.
Domaine de l’Argenteille, Terrasses du Larzac, 2016, Languedoc, France
Shiny lemon is best described the color sparkling in the light. The aromas are of petroleum but but with a smokiness and flint note. Dry on the taste with grass, green apple and hints of citrus. There’s acidity but it’s subtle. Get past the smell and it’s a good wine.
Domains Du Sacre Coeur, Alsace, France
Deep strawberry color with an orange note this is quite an aromic wine with notes of strawberry, redcurrant, orange and hints of grass which feed into the taste. It’s a sweeter wine on the taste buds but it’s quite dry and acidic. It’s a bigger rose wine in some ways, heavier and more complex than you may think, it’s not a drink and guzzle wine, more a sit and sip with food. A wine for cheese and biscuits certainly.
At about £12 a bottle it’s reasonable value for something that is a bit different.