Loire | Sarah Ahmed - The Wine Detective

First taste: Alphonse Mellot Sancerre latest releases

Posted Monday 28th March 2011

This year, the Loire Salon in Angers kicked off on a Sunday, a great virtue of which (for me at least) was that it was relatively relaxed. Usually it’s a bunfight to catch up with the wines of Alphonse Mellot, one of Sancerre’s finest, so I made it my first stop and was rewarded with plenty of elbow, tasting and [...]

Loire – bar-less eating and drinking au naturel!

Posted Sunday 30th January 2011

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Arrived in the Loire Friday night for an early kick off at yesterday’s Renaissance des Terroirs tasting – highlights to follow but, meantime, the banner for the lunchtime canteen (pictured) pretty well sums it up. It’s about handcrafted wines – sans bar code!

Le Haut Chesneau, a thoroughly modern Loire Sauv Blanc

Posted Sunday 30th May 2010

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From (screwcap) top to toe, Jean-Marc Villemaine’s Le Chesneau Touraine Sauvignon Blanc 2009 is a thoroughly modern wine. The front label loudly proclaims the variety, as does its expressive nose and palate of fresh cut grass, blackcurrant bud and ripe apple with attractively ripe, juicy acidity. It comes from Thesée, which is famous for its [...]

Château Pierre Bise – Coteaux du Layon Les Rouannières vertical & latest releases

Posted Wednesday 14th April 2010

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Claude Papin of Château Pierre Bise in the Loire is as tenacious a terroirist as they come. By reference to UTBs (Unités de Terroir de Base/Terroir Base Units), he has divided his 54ha estate into 25 different climats – mini parcels which inform his portfolio of climat-specific wines. As Papin put it to me back [...]

Anjou-Villages Brissac 2008 – kind to the teeth & gentle on the gums…

Posted Wednesday 3rd March 2010

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Best to adopt the brace position when tasting young Anjou Cabernet, Franc or Sauvignon - predominantly schist soils make for fearsome tannins. And I realised, as I broached this pre-Salon tasting at the imposing Château Brissac, that I was still recoiling from the memory of the previous year. Then, not only was I faced with [...]

Jazzing it up in Jasnières & Coteaux du Loir, Loire Salon 2010 focus

Posted Saturday 20th February 2010

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Today I’ve posted my first Loire Regional report (click here) on this year’s Salon (the annual Loire trade fair in Angers), covering the wines of Domaine de Bellivière, Domaine le Briseau, Jean-Pierre Robinot and Domaine les Maison Rouges. Not heard of them? They all hail from Jasnières & Coteaux du Loir, two once obscure, northerly [...]

Domaine de Pallus – pretty as that picture

Posted Wednesday 17th February 2010

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Tom Ford’s movie, A Single Man, provoked charges of style over substance from some quarters, prompting me to wonder if they’d prejudged the movie. Sure, directed by the ex-Gucci man it’s a stylishly realised movie, but with a tremendous emotional charge. So what’s this to do with wine? Well this week I tasted two rather [...]

Off piste Loire – Pineau d’Aunis & Grolleau at the Renaissance des Appellations’ tasting

Posted Sunday 31st January 2010

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I’m told that the Loire has seen around 15% growth year on year of organically cultivated vineyards. Some 2,415 hectares of Loire Valley wines are now being worked organically by 205 domaines. And a number of them were at today’s Renaissance des Appellations’ tasting in Angers – if you like, the alternative “Salon” to the [...]