Wines of the Loire Valley

Another informative trade tasting on the Loire valley organized in London by Charles Sydney Wines, a specialist on this region who is based in London.

Here are my notes from my favorite wines of the day. 

Alphonse Mellot

Generation XIX, Sancerre blanc 2020
The name indicates that this is a product of the 19th generation of wine producers in the Mellot family. Perfectly balanced oak-fermented sauvignon, mod long and complex. RRP £40. Score 93.

Edmond, Sancerre Blanc, 2020

A full bodied oak-fermented sauvignon,  very complex and long. A harmonious wine. RRP £45. Score 95.

Jean Philippe Blot, Domaine de la Taille aux Loups

Triple Zero (no sugar, no bottle fermentation, no dosage) pétillant naturel

Smooth and mod long, good value. RRP £13, Score 89

Remus Montlouis 2022

Blend of different plots, very smooth and long chenin blanc. RRP £15. Score 90

Clos Michel Montlouis 2022

Better balance than predecessor. RRP 16, Score 92

Clos de Husseau, 2022

Minerality emerges from this single plot wine. RRP 17, score 92

I also tasted several sweet wines, but to be honest I was not overly impressed, a bit too sweet and sticky. Here they are.

Château Pierre Bise Coteaux du Layon Rochefort 2022, RRP £11, Score 86

Château Pierre Bise Quarts des Chaue Grand Cru 2022, RRP £ 22.40, Score 85.

Domaine des Forges, Quart de Chaume Grand Cru 2021, RRP £19.70, Score 84

Meet the Producer: Kanu of Stellenbosch, South Africa

Jade showing her gold

Kanu was present at the London Wine Fair 2022 with a substantial range of wines.

Founded in 1692, it changed hands a number of times and it acquired its current name in 1997. You can read its full history, in times of peace and war, on their website. Today Kanu is established as a boutique producer of quality wines with grapes sourced over a wider area in the Western Cape.

The name Kanu is from a legend told by an old Xhosa man who was raised in his grandmother’s house on the Goedgeloof farm. Day after day, he would tell of the mythical bird he had seen flying over the farm. According to him, if the bird’s shadow touches your crop, you are promised a bountiful year’s harvest!  (from their website)

I was fortunate to taste a few wines, both at the London Wine Fair and subsequently with some colleagues from the Club. Scroll to the end of this post and you can listen to a conversation with Jason Chen, general manager and Johan Grimbeek, winemaker. Because of a technical glitch we only have the audio from our guests, sorry. Recorded on 11 July 2022.

Angelina rosé brut (Gold)

Fruity and smooth, with fine and persistent bubbles. Good freshness and minerality ensure a perfect balance with the lightly pressed pinot noir. Complex aromas in the nose and fragrance in the mouth. An elegant wine with a full personality. The gold flakes are added to some of the bottles to attract certain market segments who appreciate this precious touch of exclusivity and class.

Score 92

Pinotage rosé

Pomegranate color and fresh strawberry aromas for this original interpretation of an archetypical South African grape. Freshness in abundance but rounded for a perfect balance. 

An amazing surprise. I paired it with a raw yellowfin tuna salad on a hot Summer day and can see how this wine would be ideal with sushi, sashimi or beef carpaccio.

Score 94

Pinotage Rosé

Chenin Blanc 2019 Old Vines

Quite old these bush vines, planted in 1980 to be precise. Low yield, minimalist intervention for a vineyard certified as a heritage of Stellenbosch.

Papaya to the nose, immediately reveals a smooth, velvet wine. There is however enough acidity to ensure a moderate balance. Vanilla, almonds, pineapple all combine to provide complexity and moderate length. Late harvesting adds some spicy notes.

Score 90.

NuEra 2017

Deep ruby with highlights of garnet. An intense and complex set of red fruit aromas welcomes you to this plump and elegant wine. Peppercorn and lavender help give character and structure so that the result is a perfect balance. A harmonious wine. 

I paired it with lasagne, a medium structure food for a medium structure wine. I also tried it with Chinese pork belly and mushrooms, again the elegant tannins contrasted perfectly with the fat in the plate.

Ready now, can probably wait a few more years but it won't necessarily improve. An amazing discovery.

Score 95 

Keystone 2017

Top class South African wine in bordeaux style blend. You do not get the austerity of a Bordeaux but you can enjoy the sunshine in this is a superb expression of Stellenbosch: plump, fruity, complex and ready at just 5 years of age. I paired with bbq meat, South African style, first pork chops and then guinea fowl.

Score 93

Noble Late

Chenin blanc 100%

The sweet sibling of the family. A voluptuous wine with mellow nuances of vanilla, tangerine and ripe apricots. A "sunny" version of the well known Sauternes-style. I paired it to a home-made tiramisù, but finished off the bottle the next day while reading in the afternoon, no pairing, just a delightful meditation wine.

Score 93

the cellar

bird's eye view of the estate

the Kanu range

Meet the producer: Fratelli, from Italy to India

At work with the seven brothers

Exciting master class at the London Wine Fair 2022 on Indian wines. Fratelli (it means "brothers") is now the largest and fastest growing wine producer in India. It started in 2007 in Maharashstra and its first vintage is from 2010. 

Seven brothers from three families (Sekhri, Secci and Mohite-Patil) and two countries (Italy and India) came together with a common goal: to produce quality wine in India. 

A country where wine, especially high quality wine, is not traditionally poured at the dining table but where the growing middle class has learned to appreciate it and can afford it.

The tradition in India at that time, and still now in many places, was mostly for producers to buy wines under contract from many farmers, while Fratelli began by planting its own vineyards with rootstock imported from France. The brothers looked for good soil that would allow them to control yields and keep quality high.

Fratelli now caters mostly to the growing domestic Indian market, though exports have begun to pick up toward Singapore and the US, where expat Indian communities are attracted to wines Made in India.

Steven Spurrier worked with Fratelli for seven years to help the brothers find the best blends for their products. The result is wines to drink soon after bottling, for now the production is not yet at the stage where a long aging in bottle is recommended. Tannins are ready when the bottles leave the cellar. One reason is that Fratelli tried to make wines to match Indian food, so smooth wines to pair with spicy masalas.

Here are some of my best takeaways from the tasting.

Gran Cuvée Brut
chenin blanc 80%, muller thurgau 15%, gewurztraminer 5%
Uses chenin blanc in this traditional method because it is appreciated by the large Indian community in South Africa, with which Fratelly wants to consolidate a long standing relationship. Fresh and zesty, mod balance. A structured wine. Abv 12%. Score 85.

Chenin blanc 2021

Green highlights around the characteristic straw yellow. Almonds and some bitter notes at the end. Abv 12.5%. Score 83.

Sauvignon blanc 2021

Another fresh wine, but more balanced than the chenin blanc. Abv 12.5%. Score 87.

Sette 2019

Sangiovese 60%, cab sauvignon 40%

This blend is clearly inspired by the supertuscans, and it is not produced every year. A plump wine with considerable elegance and structure. Good balance, tendence of smoothness to prevail, and enjoyable length. It is ready now with limited potential for aging in the bottle. By far the best product of the house, it retails for about 25 dollars in the US: Money well spent.

Score 89

Sette Fratelli

Walkaround and masterclasses of Vouray, Loire Valley, France

Most interesting tasting today in London, focussed on wines from Vouvray and their iconic chenin blanc variety. Well organized by Vouvray producers and Sopexa.

Master class n. 1: Vouvray Sparkling wines

1. Couvée Privilège, Domaine du Margallau 2014

Mineral, fresh, dry, 2g dosage. Steel only, 48 months on lees, aging potential. I see this as an aperitif, it is too dry for anything else. Score 85

2. Feuilles d'Or, Domaine Herivault, biodynamic, 2012

Also mineral but rounder finish, better balance. Score 86

3. les temps d'Aimé, Dom Aubert NV

Intense nose, mod balance. Score 82

4.Chateau Gaudrelle extra brut 2014

Balances wine, mod complex, very dry, NO residual sugar. Score 86

Overall an interesting discovery of relatively lesser known sparkling wines from the Loire.

Master class n. 2: Vouvray and cheese

It was a lot of fun to try and pair the cheeses you can see in the picture, which ranged from blue to mid-aged one and were all from France except Gorgonzola. There are countless possible combinations, and in the end it is a matter of taste to pair by contrast (e.g. acidity of the wines and fat of the cheese) or concordance (e.g. sweetness of both wine and cheese).

My favorite of the above lineup was n.5, Champalou les Fondreaux 2018, a sweet wine that maintained adequate acidity, made with only natural yeasts, picked late with no added sugar, which paired with most of the cheeses on my plate! Score 86

I was personally surprised at how well the sparkling wine, contrast-paired with Gorgonzola.

The other feature which emerged this afternoon is the high degree of versatility of Vouvray chenin blanc, which allows for a wide range of possible pairings depending on vinification.

Prices for all above wines between 13 and 16 euros FOB.

Kevin sharing his wisdom