CAPS: Old World Week 1: Grapes of Alsace and the Loire Flashcards
Muscadet Sèvre et Maine
Pays Nantais
Grape: Melon Blanc
Dry
High acid
Medium alcohol (12%)
Light body
Wine bottled in the year following the vintage; winter on lees
Handled very little to retain delicacy and freshness
Muscadet et Gros Plant du Pays Nantais
- Melon Blanc
- Gros Plant Nantais / Folle Blanche / Picpoul de Pinet
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Gros Plant Nantais
- aka Folle Blanche - Loire
- aka Picpoul de Pinet - Languedoc
The Folle Blanche variety is historic to the Nantes region. Planted near the Atlantic, it produces a lemony, saline and mineral wine that is ideal with oysters.
Muscadet Coteaux de la Loire
- Melon Blanc
- Pineau d’Aunis (fresh, light red or rosé)
Melon Blanc:
Tends to be leaner
Dry
High acid
Medium alcohol (12%)
Light body
Wine bottled in the year following the vintage; winter on lees
Handled very little to retain delicacy and freshness
Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu
Pays Nantais
Melon Blanc
Riper than most grapes
Dry
High acid
Medium alcohol (12%)
Light body
Wine bottled in the year following the vintage; winter on lees
Handled very little to retain delicacy and freshness
Coteaux d’Ancenis
Pays Nantais
Melon blanc
Dry
High acid
Medium alcohol (12%)
Light body
Wine bottled in the year following the vintage; winter on lees
Handled very little to retian delicacy and freshness
Anjou Coteaux de la Loire
- Chenin Blanc / Pineau de la Loire
46 villages
Anjou
White
1. Chenin Blanc / Pineau de la Loire
Red
1. Cab Franc
2. Cab Sauv
The appellation covers the better plots of land around Anjou and is restricted to the prime south-facing slopes in 46 communes.
Savennières
- Chenin Blanc / Pineau de la Loire
Anjou
Dry
Dense and rich in substance
Rigid in substance
Coteaux de l’Aubance
Anjou
Chenin Blanc / Pineau de la Loire
(Can produce sweet wines)
River Aubance:
- parallel with Layon River to south
- can produce great sweet wines
Coteaux du Layon
Anjou
Chenin Blanc / Pineau de la Loire
(noble rot when nature cooperates)
South to southwest buttes
Drying winds off Atlantic
Concentrates grape sugars
Quarts de Chaume
Island in savennières
Chenin Blanc / Pineau de la Loire
Sweet wine from noble rot
Very well protected
Considered better than Bonnezeaux
First official Grande Cru in the Loire
“Island” in the Coteau du Layon
Bonnezeaux
Anjou
Chenin Blanc / Pineau de la Loire
Noble rot
Own appelation
“Island” in the Coteau du Layon
Coulée de Serrant
AOC in Savennières
Anjou
AOC in Savennières
Anjou
Chenin Blanc / Pineau de la Loire (dry)
Nicolas Joly
Vineyard with its own appelation
6ha - biodynamic
Roche aux Moines
AOC in Savennières
Anjou
Chenin Blanc / Pineau de la Loire (dry)
Vineyard with its own appelation
19ha
Saumur-Puy-Notre-Dame
Saumur
Cabernet Franc
What is the sparkling wine in Saumur called? What grape(s)?
Sparkling
Saumur
Chenin Blanc with up to 10% Chardonnay
1) Saumur Mousseux
- grown all over Saumur and parts of Anjou
- too tart to enjoy as a still wine
2) Crémant de la Loire
- less flavourful than Champagne
- Considered better than Saumur Mousseux
- Less geopgraphically specific but stricter rules
Saumur Champigny
Saumur
Cabernet Franc - one of the best expressions
Bourgueil
Touraine
Cabernet Franc - raspberry, sharpened pencil
Steeper slopes and more limestone = more structure, wines can age 10+ years
Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil
Touraine
Cabernet Franc - raspberry, sharpened pencil
Chinon
Touraine
Cabernet Franc - raspberry, sharpened pencil
Touraine Noble Joué
Touraine
Pinots Meunier, Noir and Gris
Dry rosé
One of the original vin gris
Vouvray
Touraine
- Chenin Blanc
- Arbois
Dry to sweet
Tarter than Anjou
Distinct taste of honey
Long life, even though light: key is acidity
Vintage variation
Arbois
Montlouis-sur-Loire
Chenin Blanc
Dry / sparkling
Touraine
Very similar to Vouvray north on other side of the Loire
Sandier soils
Lighter and less intense
More product made into sparkling
Valençay
Central Loire
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Arbois
Coteaux du Loir and Jasnières
Central Loire
Chenin Blanc
Pineau d’Aunis
Fine, challengingly dry CB
Single slope
Cheverny and Cour-Cheverny
Central Loire
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Romorantin
- Arbois
Sauvignon Blanc
Best
Romorantin Grapes
Sharp, dry whites
Labelled Cour-Cheverny
Reuilly and Quincy
Central Loire
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Pinot Noir
- Pinot Gris (Reuilly) makes vin gris
Quincy: Rustic
Menetou-Salon
Central Loire
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Pinot Noir
Hot pink
Town of Pouilly-sur-Loire
Pouilly Fumé
Central Loire
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Chasselas - very mild wine
Sauvignon Blanc
More perfumed than Sancerre
High proportion of clay-flint:
- potential for ageing
-gunflint character (pierre à fusil)
Sancerre
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Pinot Noir
Sauvignon Blanc
Terres blanches: white limestone with high clay
- sturdier
Pinot Noir
- Rarely seen outside Sancerre
- Rosé: rare
- Red: light compared to Burgundy
Name a famous producer in Sancerre
François Cotat
Monts Damnés vineyard
“La Grande Côte”
Near Chavignol village
Sauvignon Blanc
Kimmerigdean marl gives broader wines
Rosé d’Anjou
Grolleau
Anjou
Gamay
Crémant d’Alsace
- Pinot Blanc
- Auxerrois / Klevner / Clevner
Zotzenberg
Sylvaner
Grand Cru status for a non-noble grape
Grapes of Alsace
- Riesling
- Pinot Gris
- Pinot Noir
- Pinoy Blanc / Auxerrois
- Gewürztraminer
- Muscat (Ottonel, Blanc à Petit Grains)
- Sylvaner
