Impress your mates at Christmas!

Vouvray vs South African Upstarts & classic Rhone comparison

This month, we’re exploring Chenin Blanc and the Rhone Valley, to demonstrate the different styles of the wine available to you. We’re exploring 2 whites and two reds as normal. There are many more available, but these fit in the £10 price bracket.

The home of Chenin Blanc is the Loire Valley, famous for its chalky soils or ‘Tuffeaux’, its Muscadet from the Pays Nantais on the coast, Sancerre from Central Loire and the Rose d’Anjou from the 1990’s. The other famous grapes from the region are Melon de Bourgogne (Muscadet), Sauvignon Blanc (Sancerre) & Cabernet Franc (Saumur). In the premium sparkling regions of Saumur….and even in Vouvray, they make more sparkling wine than still (Cremant de Loire). The history of the Loire Valley is long and distinguished, but it was really the monks who established good trade routes up and down the Loire to transport wine and custom came from Britain and the Netherlands. This enabled the Loire to accelerate as a wine production region. Wines were sold to all traders but the relationships with the English royalty were strong and the Dutch desired base white wines for their ‘Brondwein’ fortified spirit.

This month, we have selected this Vouvray, in a beautiful off dry style to show the versatility of the grape, from Les Coteaux Tufiers, above the premium Vouvray slopes. Fermented to an off dry finish, medium alcohol and a little hint of lees work, creates a wine with plenty of green fruit and stone fruit on the palate. This wine will work well with cheese and/or spicy food.

Compare this to a new upstart from Stellenbosch. These vines were brought here by the Dutch, then developed by the Huguenots. With their knowledge, they set up in Stellenbosch to create this Chenin Blanc. The Seriously Cool Chenin Blanc by Waterkloof is made from 30-40 year old bush-vine vineyards in the Helderberg. Cooled by the ocean to enable concentration and acidity to develop. Minimal winemaking influence, whole bunch fermented, settled for 24hrs, then fermented in steel or concrete. No yeast is used. This produces a super fruity wine, high in alcohol which is very drinkable, especially on a warm summers day.

So, wine making technique can make the grape behave very differently 😊

Second comparison was a trip down the Rhone beneath Burgundy, travelling south bound, we stop in Beaujolais to check out Brouilly. This wine shouts raspberry and red fruit and is drinkable a room temperature or chilled, it would equally work well with red or white meat.

The region comprises of 12 appellations, Beaujolais, Beaujolais Villages and the 10 named villages. Beaujolais has a less prestigious reputation than its northern Burgundy sibling, but it’s early ripening Gamay grape produces lovely fruity wines. With the advent of the trains, the Parisian market opened and Beaujolais became the fashion in every city bistro.

Its popularity owed something to the fresh, fruity aromas of these wines, which came from a winemaking technique called ‘carbonic maceration’, which enabled the wines to be released quickly (even in the same year of harvest). These vins de primeur, called Beaujolais nouveau, were released on the third Thursday of November following the harvest. These wines have bright vibrant flavours of raspberry, cheery and bramble, but can also have bubblegum, banana and kirsch flavours.

Beaujolais AOC wines tend to be simple and juicy, with straight forward fruit flavors. Cru Beaujolais wines are more complex, with floral and earthy notes complementing the ripe fruit flavours.

Cotes du Rhones Villages 'Les Coteaux'

We then compared this to our selected Cote du Rhones Villages ‘Les Coteaux’. The Cote du Rhone travels from Lyon down to the Mediterranean. Cotes du Rhone is a massive wine region, the second-largest appellation in France, only Bordeaux has more hectares of vines planted, about ¾ of the region is under vine. The Cotes du Rhone was officially declared an AOC appellation in 1937.

There are two distinct areas, the Northern Rhone and Southern Rhone. These have 5 appellations in total, the easiest way to look at the region is to divide it into two levels of quality, Cotes du Rhone Villages, which is a higher level of classification and Cotes du Rhone, which is less prestigious.

89% of all wines are red, 7% is rose and 4% of the production is white wine and there are 21 different allowable wine grapes able to be planted in the Cotes du Rhone, the dominant red wine grape is Grenache, followed by Syrah, Mouvedre, Cinsault & Carignan. All wine should have 40% grenache as a minimum.

Quality in the Rhone Valley

AOC Cotes du Rhone accounts for 50% of the production, typically Grenache and Syrah blends. AOC Cotes du Rhone Villages are slightly more complex and high alcohol and are great for aging. As you move up the pyramid, then you find the 21 named villages, with lower yields, tighter controls and higher quality. Then you arrive at the 17 Cru villages.

To produce wine with wither CdR or CdRV designation, the vineyards must be located in any of the following 21 villages that make up the Cotes du Rhone appellation, which makes 171 communes.

The wine is typically fruity, sweet, spicy and packed with ripe, red berries. Meant to be enjoyed on release, that don’t require aging.

Common practice in the Côtes du Rhône is to bottle the best cuvées as a single, named, village wine and the rest as more basic Côtes du Rhône Villages. The Cotes du Rhone ‘Les Coteaux’ is made in the philosophy of creating the very best Côtes du Rhône Villages possible by sourcing wine from the vineyards of named villages, and enriching them with a small proportion of barrel-aged wine from Sablet, Séguret and Cairanne. Boutinot's Côtes du Rhône Villages 'Les Coteaux' is therefore a selection of the best Grenache Noir and Syrah from some of the 17 named Côtes du Rhône Villages.

Immediately impressive, this wine reveals its class from the start. Brambly fruit underpinned by subtle oaky nuances, lovely sweet spice - warm star anise with a touch of cinnamon. This classic Côtes du Rhône Villages is enriched with specially-selected parcels from the cru vineyards of Séguret, Sablet and Cairanne.

We hope you enjoy and see you at the tastings 😊