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The Cream of the Loire 2003: Introduction
During the summer of 2003 I visited the Loire Valley, a trip full of vinous adventures, which I will be recounting in a series of Loire special features over the next few weeks. I visited the cream of all the Loire producers, all of whom were very gracious.
It's clear that in the Loire Valley there is a dedicated and
knowledgeable band of vignerons who care passionately about their
terroirs, and they are making wines that reflect this. Vinous
highlight of the trip has to be my visit to meet Claude Papin of Château
Pierre-Bise. In two hours with this former President of the Technical
Institute of the Vine and of Wine I learnt more about winemaking -
specifically Papin's philosophy of wine, in which polyphenols, botrytis
and terroir feature heavily - than I think I have ever learnt before. A
trip up into the hills with Papin, to walk through his three different
mesoclimates, certainly brought his arguments to
life. Naturally, a full report is to follow.
Papin was just one of my visits however. I also spent considerable time at Clos de la Coulée de Serrant (home of biodynamics-meister Nicolas Joly) in Savennières and at Domaine Huet in Vouvray, and tasted wines from a number of other leading estates, including Charles Joguet in Chinon and Louis Metaireau in Muscadet. And to cap it all, some Calais shopping on the way home yielded some fine wines from Domaine Weinbach, Marcel Deiss, Roederer and Laurent-Perrier, to name a few, at excellent prices. Keep tuned over the coming weeks for reports on all my tastings and visits in a 2003 'Cream of the Loire' special. (4/9/03)
This series, The Cream of the Loire 2003, focuses on a small selection of the best Loire vignerons. I visited these domaines, and tasted their wines, during a visit to the Loire Valley in 2003. Articles in this series include:
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