The Loire's Answer to Summer

Summertime. Even if living isn't easy, it sometimes seems easier with the long summer twilights, cooking outside, and lots of entertaining. Even finding summer wines can be easy, as long as you remember that they, too, should reflect the season. But sometimes a "simple summer sipper" is not what you're looking for. You want a wine that fits summer's easy-going mood, but has a little more brains than a quaffer. That's when I reach for a white wine from the Vouvray appellation of France's Loire Valley.

Vouvray wines are produced from 100% chenin blanc grapes, the marvelously versatile white varietal that can make dazzling dry, off-dry, and sweet wines in both sparkling and still varieties. The varietal seems especially able to soak up the influence of the soils and earth in which it was grown. In the Loire, most of these soils are full of limestone and minerals, which imparts a nice, stony edge to the grapes that are grown there. This stony, mineral-inflected profile of a good Vouvray is what makes for a refreshing summer white with brains.

I recently had a dry vouvray that had excellent QPR and was a terrific summer white: the 2005 Champalou Vouvray ($14.99, Mission Wines; available from many merchants for between $10 and $17). I've had this wine twice, and it impressed me each time with its aromas of lemon blossom and minerals and its summery straw color. It is intensely aromatic, but even more flavorful, with pure lemon essence, herbal, and stone notes. I found this wine was perfectly situated on the cusp between dry and off-dry, so it would be perfect for Indian food or other highly flavorful or spicy food. Try it with some tandoori shrimp skewers done up on the grill with a mint and cilantro pesto dipping sauce for a perfectly easy, and perfectly delicious, summer meal.

Catherine and Didier Champalou's wine-making efforts are profiled over at the Wine Doctor if you would like to find out more about them. They make some excellent value Vouvrays, and are a producer to keep your eye out for if you are looking for a reliably good producer.

Not Your Parents' Chenin Blanc: the 2004 La Craie Vouvray

New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov over at his excellent blog The Pour recently posted a story on the underappreciated and un-fashionable varietal chenin blanc. Just so Eric doesn't feel too lonely in chenin blanc heaven, I wanted to post this recommendation for a chenin blanc from Vouvray in France: the excellent QPR 2004 La Craie Vouvray (Chronicle Wine Cellar, $7.95).

This is not your parents' chenin blanc. I have some pretty vivid memories of large jugs of wine labelled "chenin blanc" entering my childhood home--you know the ones with the little loopy handle at the top and the metal screw cap. (My parents would want you to know that they don't drink this anymore!) Every 40 something wine blogger out there, and most every 40 something wine enthusiast can probably recall a similar vignette from their own past. Some of us even got our start drinking the stuff.

But chenin blanc is a versatile grape that seems particularly good at drawing up the influences from the soil up into its root system, spreading them out into the fruit. Because chenin blanc is typically not manipulated very much in the processing of the grapes, all those appellation nuances come through in the finished project. Take this 2004 La Craie.

Named after the chalky soils on which the grapes are grown (craie is chalk in French), this pale lemon wine had enticing crisp citrus aromas. Sipping the wine brought out more citrus and green apple flavors, with a hint of a sweet impression as the last drops slid down. Despite the sweet aftertaste, this was a crisp, dry wine. But now swirl it in the glass and smell. That's right: crushed chalk, just like in your first grade classroom. Take another sip: now there is an aftertaste of crushed chalk in your mouth, too. As with all white wines, these more subtle flavors will disappear if you serve the wine too cold.

The versatile chenin blanc grape produced, in this case, an equally versatile wine that would go with turkey, seafood, Chinese or Thai take-out, and salads. Expand your horizons and keep some of these grapes from falling into Eric's clutches. Better yet, buy some of this inexpensive, high quality wine and use the rest of your $20 bill to buy a chance to have dinner with Eric through the raffle for Menu for Hope III, a great event to support the UN World Food Programme. If you win, you'll have one more thing to talk about!

Saturday Wine Shopping--The Houseguests are Coming

Because my sister-in-law and her husband are coming from New Jersey to stay with us for a week, I decided to go wine shopping. This is in spite of the fact that I know exactly which wines I'm going to serve with each meal I'm cooking all week already, and they are already in the house. Perhaps it's the anticipation of empty spots on the wine racks. We are looking forward to checking out some of the area wine bars while they are here, so stay tuned for reviews of those.

I scrounged around Whole Foods in Pasadena, where I was reminded once more that their wine is overpriced (though they do have a good selection of organic and biodynamic wines). I went to Trader Joe's on Rosemead, where I was reminded that they give you hardly any information on the shelf talkers. So, it was off to Chronicle Wine Cellar. (Here is a picture of the interior, nicked off their website--thanks to Chronicle Wine Cellar!)

For those of you who live in LA and haven't been to Chronicle Wine, you should consider a trip out to the east side. Go to the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens (the weather is gorgeous and the fall plant sale is on this weekend), then to to Pie 'n' Burger, the legendary establishment where you can eat at chipped brown formica tables, chowing down on burgers with Thousand Island Dressing and iceberg lettuce that is folded into squares to fit the bun. (I know, but people do come from miles around). After you eat, head out of the store, turn left then left again down a kind of daunting alley, and under the apartments you will see a plain door with some Christmas lights around the door. Do not be alarmed--just go in.

What I love about Chronicle Wine Cellar (other than the wine) is that they have about half a dozen people working there (singly or in pairs, usually) and no matter who is in the store, they are friendly, informed, and honest. I'm so sick of going into wine stores and asking questions only to have them make stuff up. Today I asked Bob, who was on his own this morning, if he'd had the wine I was about to buy and he said no without hesitation. He also recommended a wine I knew nothing about, but he said the buzz on it in the shop was good. They have great shelf-talkers, which are a combination of published wine reviews and staff wine reviews. I trust their staff reviews completely--if they say its a good value wine, I buy it without worrying about being taken in (see honesty, above). Chronicle Wine Cellar is a bit like Odd Bins used to be in the UK when it was just a few tiny shops with lots of small quantities of wine that you never saw anywhere else.

Chronicle Wines has a particularly nice selection of French wine, along with a great US pinot noir section and some fine cabernets and chardonnay. Today, they had some new arrivals: Pierre-Marie Chermette's high-end 2005 Fleurie Les Garants ($16.95), 2004 Chateau de La Preuille Muscadet Sur Lie Tete de Cuvee ($13.95), and 2004 La Craie Vouvray ($7.95). So I picked those up to fill in some of those impending vacancies on the old wine rack and went home to clean the house!