Vouvray Wine Information

There are seven townships in this appellation, which falls in the touraine district of the Loire. The Vouvray appellation was only created in 1936, although monasteries worked with wine for centureis before that time. Note that chenin blanc wines in the other parts of the world are called merely chenin blanc.

Vouvray can be affected strongly by terroir (land), or the composition of the soil the grape is grown in. Those from clay soil might tend towards a fruity flavor, while those made on perruches (flinty clay) soil might taste more of minerals. Vouvray is typically drunk young, within 6 months of bottling, around 3 years from when the grapes are picked. However, fine years of Vouvray have been known to last up to 100 years in excellent condition.

The Vouvray wine cellar, or Cave des Producteurs des Grands Vins de Vouvray, was formed around fourty years ago and is a "common storage" for a large group of growers here. A wine-tasting board decides which wines will be aged here. The cellar has a capacity of 2 million bottles.

Vouvray tends towards a sweet but dry flavor, again, affected by where it is grown. Typical flavors include lemon, fruit, and minerals. Some vouvray wines have flavors of apples and pears. The richer style of Vouvray is called moelleux. Moelleux tends to be a more pure gold color, and has flavors of honey, caramel and prunes.

Vouvray goes very well with shellfish, lobsters, shrimp, and seafood. It should be drunk at around 8 C - i.e. just warmer than fridge temperature. Vouvray is usually drunk within 2 years of its release.

Vouvray

There are seven townships in this appellation, which falls in the touraine district of the Loire.

The streets of Vouvray may seem designed to confuse and disorientate, but that should not discourage us from exploring the town through its wines. In the eyes of many they are the Loire's greatest, and this vinous reward is well worth even an hour of luckless driving, looking stupid and lost.

Whether considering the dry minerality of the sec wines, the exquisite balance of a demi-sec, or the fabulous intensity and complex flavour of an aged moelleux, Vouvray is the greatest appellation of this section of the Loire. Some might say it is the greatest appellation of all the Loire.

The rendement de base is, however, just a guide, and maximum yields are in fact higher than these figures might otherwise suggest. Appellation regulations also stipulate minimum must weight - 153 g/l for the still wines and 136 g/l for sparkling styles - and final alcoholic strength is also regulated. The INAO does not, however, furnish the winemaker with minimum sugar concentrations to define sec, demi-sec or moelleux, and so these terms are open to wider interpretation. European Union agricultural policy does provide guidance on their use, however, although they do not marry well with what is actually bottled in the Loire:

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• Sec: dry wines, EU definition 17 - 35 g/l. A typical Vouvray sec would contain 5 - 13 g/l of residual sugar.
• Demi-Sec: literally 'half-dry', although maybe 'half-sweet' would be a better way to think of it. It's probably fair to say that this is Vouvray's most 'natural' wine. EU definition 33 - 50 g/l. A typical Vouvray demi-sec would have 17 - 35 g/l of residual sugar, matching closely the EU definition of sec.
• Moelleux: sweet wines, defined by the EU as being over 50 g/l. Typical moelleux wines from Vouvray would contain upwards of 45 g/l of residual sugar, and although many would come in at less than 100 g/l, some may more than double this figure.

There is, of course, more to sweetness than sugar, as the acidity and balance of a wine has a huge impact on how sweet the wine is perceived to be on the palate, but these figures at least give a little guidance. The only real way to understand Vouvray, though, is to taste it and drink it, a practice I wholeheartedly recommend. Or, of course, you could visit the vineyards themselves. Just make sure you leave plenty time to find your chosen domaine.

Top Winedoctor domaines: There are many worthy estates, but the leaders of the pack include the occasionally elusive Domaine Huet now run by son-in-law Noel Pinguet with financial backing from overseas, Bernard Fouquet at Domaine des Aubuisières and the Foreau family at Clos Naudin. The wines produced by Didier and Catherine at Domaine Champalou can also be very good but tend to be in a lighter, more floral style, especially when young. Also look out for Marc Brédif, Chateau Gaudrelle, François Pinon and Prince Philippe Poniatowski (now replaced by François Chidaine) at Clos Baudoin, among others, for good wines.

Top Winedoctor Domaines
Vouvray

Montlouis

If Vouvray is Stan Laurel - wiry, characterful, but with hidden depths - then Montlouis must be Oliver Hardy. The town of Montlouis sits just across the river from Vouvray, with fairly similar terroir underfoot although there is a more sandy feel to the soils, and obviously the aspect of many of the vineyards are different. There are three communes that have vineyards qualifying for the Montlouis appellation, which was delimited in 1938. These are in Montlouis-sur-Loire and Lussault-sur-Loire, both of which sit on the left bank of the Loire, and St-Martin-le-Beau, which lies slightly to the south, closer to the Cher than the Loire. The rendement de base is as for Vouvray, 52 and 65 hl/ha for still and sparkling styles respectively. This is another 100% Chenin Blanc appellation, yet despite these similarities the wines have never achieved the repute that Vouvray enjoys. But that is not to say that some are not very fine, and that they can demonstrate a fabulous metamorphosis in bottle, emerging as complex, intriguing wines, especially from a great vintage. Jacky Blot at Taille aux Loups is one of the leading names of the region, but also watch Chidaine who has also now taken over at the Poniatowski estate in Vouvray.

Chateau Montlouis: http://www.vouvray.com/