Feb 2024. Wines of the Loire, Peter Freeman

 

An excellent Evening from Peter, who most definitely knows his stuff. He decided to bring along some rarities rather than just going for the Loire standards. He apologised at the start for the wines being a little on the expensive side, but to be honest, given that a decent bottle at Majestic or Waitrose is now getting to £10, I thought these weren’t excessive.

The rarities: A red Sancerre, A Remorantin and Rose Pineau d’Aunis – 2 very rare Loire grapes, plus also a Loire Malbec (Cot), also pretty uncommon.

Sadly one of the 3 bottles of the Cour Cheverny was off, which I got (awful) so I and some others only got a miniscule taste. This is very much a rarity  nowadays, we see maybe 1 bottle a year which is off (if that) – that’s out of 12 x 24 = 288 bottles, or less than 0.5%.

All of these wines except the last are readily available in the UK.

The Wines were:

White

Cour-Cheverny,  Le Petit Chambord 2020. Remorantin. The Wine Society. 14.5% (?) £12.95.

A very rare grape variety, historically much more common. Early ripening. Supposedly 14.5% but nobody believed it.

Muscadet, Comte Leloup du Château de Chasseloir. 2018. Melon De Bourgogne. The Wine Society. 12%, £11.50.

A Sur Lie Muscadet , pretty decent.

Reilly, Nathalie. 2022. Sauvignon Blanc. Majestic, 13.5%. £14.99

Very decent. Well balanced, full bodied. Atypical for a Loire SB more typical of a Bordeaux white.

Rose

Touraine,  2020. Domaine Merieau La Rosée. Pineau D’Aunis. Slurp. 12.5% £14.95

Another very rare grape. Basically a Rose D’Anjou. Supposedly an acquired taste. Most of us didn’t want to acquire it any further.

Red. 

 

Sancerre,  Domaine Francois Millet 2019. Pinot Noir. Slurp. 13.5% £16.95.

A red Sancerre – another rarity. PN is the only red grape allowed in Sancerre. This was a good wine. Well made, good body to it.

Touraine, Domaine Guenault 1885. 2022. Côt (Malbec). The WIne Society. 13%. £10.50

Malbec is another rarity, needs more time. This is not at all like an Argentinian Malbec. Rich Dark Spicy. A steal at the price.

St Nicolas De Bourgueil,  2022. Cabernet Franc. Majestic. 13%. £15.99. 

Cabernet Franc makes the best Loire reds, and this is a good one.

Dessert

Coteaux Du Layon 1er Cru Chaume,  2015. Chenin Blank. Peters own stock. €24.50 in France  

 

The star of the evening was the last wine – this is superb. We all noted that Peter did pour himself an extra large glass of this. He knew……