wine tasting

Happy Wine Wednesday! Today we travel to the Loire Valley for a little Vouvray tasting, courtesy of last week’s TasteLive wine event, Hooray for Vouvray.

The tasting lineup:

Didier Champalou Vouvray Sec, 2010
Domaine Bourillon Dorleans Vouvray Sec ‘’Coulée d’Argent’’ 2011
Domaine des Aubuisieres Vouvray Sec ‘’Cuvée Silex’’ 2011
François Chidaine Vouvray Sec ‘’Argiles’’ 2010
Marc Bredif Vouvray Sec 2010

{Marc Bredif Vouvray Sec 2010 – the first thing we noticed was a little “funk” on the nose, not a bad thing at all. Flavorful, crisp, lemony with a little of that funkiness on the palate as well}

{Didier Champalou Vouvray Sec, 2010 – Very aromatic, slightly floral nose, fresh and citrusy with nice acidity, reminded me of candied lemon peel}

{François Chidaine Vouvray Sec ‘’Argiles’’ 2010 – notes of pear and nectarine, white pepper, with a nice minerality}

{Domaine Bourillon Dorleans Vouvray Sec ‘’Coulée d’Argent’’ 2011 – another very aromatic wine with floral notes, tart lemon, as well as sweet almond}

I really didn’t know much about Vouvray going into the tasting, but by tasting these five side-by-side, we learned how diverse these wines, made with Chenin Blanc really are. They range from dry to sweet and include just about everything in between. From the TasteLive blog:

On average, 60% of each vintage is made into still wine and 40% is made sparkling. Sweet Vouvray is usually made from grapes that have been allowed to remain on the vine until overripe and shriveled by the sun and wind, so the percentage of dry to sweet wine depends on each year’s growing conditions.  In a cool year, only dryer wines are made but in years where warm weather continues into fall, harvest for sweet wines is delayed until well into November (the latest harvest in France) and there may be several pickings in order to harvest the grapes at their moment of optimum ripeness.

What do you eat with Vouvray? Well, as we learned, since the wines did vary, there are a bunch of options, and that Chenin Blanc goes really well with all sorts of cheeses. We went with goat cheese and crackers because I was under-the-weather and didn’t feel like prepping much more, but I could see the sweeter wines pairing nicely with a blue cheese and any of them pairing well with a stinky, delicious Le Tur.

But we found ourselves wishing we had oysters, knowing that the briny bivalves would be perfect with the crispness and minerality of the Vouvray.

A dry Vouvray would also liven up a turkey dinner very nicely and would be a fun choice for Thanksgiving.

If you have the time and interest, I definitely recommend picking up a bottle (or 5) of Vouvray for your very own tasting at home. I can’t think of anything better, especially as the weather declines and going out seems less appealing.

Tonight I am participating in another TasteLive event, this time with Chateau Tanunda Estate from the Barossa Valley in Australia. If you feel like following along on Twitter, the hashtag is #Tanunda.

Are you loving any new-to-you wines lately?