So, this time around I am excited to announce we gon step it up a notch and I think I may have found a wine that you can impress your friends and dates with. Better yet one that won’t break the bank. Total Wine & More is a maze of alcohol but usually has exactly what you’re looking for and a friendly staff 😊. Don’t be afraid to ask and even if you already know a lot, play dumb. I learn new stuff all the time.
Today's #WineWednesday subject is a bottle of Vouvray!
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| Translation: Frenchy McFrench frenchly frenchs the french. |
This is probably you right now:
“WHAT DOES ALL THAT FRENCH MEAN AUSTIN?! This is why I stay away from bottles I can’t read. I feel like I need to take a class before I can be caught dead by the sales staff looking at it on the shelf. Egad! I’m going to stick to my Americanized wine so I can keep my dignity while shopping. Hmmmpffff.”
NO! Don’t keep your dignity! This is a great example to ease you into the saddle. It is tough I know! You gotta know a lot of terms and regions especially for French wine (then German, Spanish, Italian, etc. 😟). All will be explained in short order and I’ll even give you a French cheat sheet or two!
Interpretations:
“Vouvray” coupled with “Appellation d’origine Protégée” or AoP (fomerly AoC as in Contrôllée):
Translates to “protected designation of origin” (formerly “controlled…”) In a nutshell: what it is and where it is from. Bear with me this is *the most important thing on the bottle*…
AoP is the top tier (out of 4) of prestige for French winemaking regions. If they want to put this on their bottle (and make wine in the region for that matter) the wine must meet the AoP standards of the particular viticultural area. For our purposes, “Vouvray” means the wine is from Vouvray and is 100% Chenin Blanc. There’s more to it than that but we don’t really care about how far away they can plant rows of vines and other nonsense. "Chenin Blanc" is also printed on the center of the label (lol see it's slightly Americanized) so it’s a safe bet they didn’t use a minor blending grape that is also permitted (though rarely used) in Vouvray called Orbois.
“Loire Valley”: Region
Sometimes the bottle might only give the AoP and you are expected to know that Vouvray is in Touraine which is in the Loire Valley which is in northwest France.
“2016”: Vintage
Easy…what year the grapes were harvested.
“Famille Bougrier”: Château/Domaine
This is the family estate label that heads the winemaking process. Think of it as the winery although that’s not really the whole story. Wine is usually synonymous with family in France.
“Grande Réserve”: “Great Reserve”
This means more or less it’s the best bottle of this style that they make. The grapes chosen were very good and/or from their best plots on the property. The AoP may also have rules for printing this. Also, in this particular case they age the wine in oak barrels for a few months as opposed to the regular version which is unoaked. Perhaps this goes hand in hand with…
“Vieilles Vignes”: “Old Vines”
This wine was made with grapes from old plantings. Winemakers agree that grapes from older vines make better wine. Grapevines are perennial plants, so they suffer through the winter and produce fruit in the growing season each year. For the first 6 years or so grapevines aren’t ready for a full-time job (just a wee baby). A normal vine’s best yielding years are something like 6-30. After then the amount of fruit produced begins to decline. A generally agreed upon minimum age of 50 puts vines into the old vines club. Well kept vines can get SUPER old (Slovenia lays claim to a vine nearly 500 years old), so old vines are not uncommon if the grower wants to trade quantity of grapes for quality. The general theory is old vines have less grapes to take care of so it takes care of them all very well and therefore imparts better characteristics of the terroir.
“V”: Probs the winemaker’s nickname for the wine.
"Product of France": 😜
Price: $15 Sale from $18. The regular (non-Grande Réserve) was $11 Sale from $14.
You: “Ugh, when do we get to drink it?”
Blfkhgerigjhrggerkn! Wine is so much more than a drink! But you are right we should be talking about this while enjoying it! Still, let me give you a bit about Vouvray and Famille Bougrier. Also, here are cheat sheets for the Loire Valley and French wine terms for future reference.
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*We can talk more about "Cru" if I ever review a Champagne, Burgundy, or Bordeaux.
For now know that it is a ranking system of Châteaux for which the lowest class is still very good.
Other countries put this on their bottles sometimes but it doesn't mean as much as it does in France.
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Background: Ah the Loire Valley…the “Garden of France.” The scene for St. Joan of Arc’s military dominance, picturesque castles, and of course great (mostly white) wine. An incredibly diverse geographical region extending from the Atlantic coast to the continental heartland. Each of the 4 major sub-regions is different, but let’s focus on Touraine. World-renowned Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc hail from the Loire and Cher valleys surrounding the city of Tours. Just to the east of Tours are the vineyards of Vouvray, a place synonymous with Chenin Blanc. Sparkling or still, Vouvray makes a plethora of renditions in their limestone-rich soil with one thing in common: It be good 😋.
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Château de Chenonceau. A very famous castle literally on the Cher.
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| Famille Bougrier vineyard and cellar/caves locations. 1 is the original Domaine (near the Cher), 2 is in Vouvray (near the Loire). |
Alrighty…Let’s get sloshed! 😈
My Review: Upon opening the bottle I already knew I was going to love it. IT SMELLS SO GOOD. Chilled in fridge for 30 mins or so.
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| Proud of this pic. |
Sniff: After the swish and flick (copyright infringement?) I stick my nose in there and smell a slightly tropical but mostly grassy field aroma. I need to go into a flower shop and sniff around so I can actually tell you that it smells like something in particular, but alas, all I can offer is that there are floral notes 😐. Fruit-wise we are in the range of melons and potentially some yellow tree fruit like a peach. I could sniff this wine for hours…it reminds me of warm weather. BTdubs, it is cold as eff outside.
Taste: Mmmmmmmmm, smooth creamy butter. Semi-sweet, which is a lot more than I was expecting based on the color. Body is pretty substantial for a white wine: I would say a solid medium. Acidity that kinda comes off as a lemon rind’s bitterness but in a good way. Also some minerality. Honeysuckle? Honey? Honey you need to try this wine. Cantaloupe? Alcohol is not too present. Sweetness remains on the tongue for a long time after swallow. Give it a little air and the grassy-flowery-peachy notes come back. Good balance for being so strong in some categories. No complaints whatsoever.
Overall: Exactly what I was looking for. I have been a fan of Chenin Blanc since first tasting it but had never had a Loire Valley rendition (I have had a decent number of South African Steens and also an American one I think). What differs is it is less tropical and more continental than its South African counterpart. Also, I am a huge fan of retaining the sweetness of Chenin Blanc…the others I’ve enjoyed have been substantially drier. I think the Loire has converted me to prefer its terroir.
Pairings: The bottle says try with some apple pie. I think that's a great idea. I might also add this: I would be curious to see how it does with lobster. Also, I feel like it's big enough and sweet enough to handle some bigger meats and spiciness. Don't blindly follow me on this though cuz pairings are a notorious weak point for me 😛.
Rating: 8.73275325 of 10
Value: $$$ of 5
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Credit:
http://www.internationalwineguild.com/aoc--aop
http://www.courtofmastersommeliers.org/pdfresources/loirenotes.pdf
https://vinepair.com/wine-geekly/what-the-heck-is-old-vine-wine-heres-everything-you-need-to-know/
https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/this-grapevine-has-been-around-for-nearly-500-years/
http://www.totalwine.com/wine/brand/bougrier
https://shop.winefolly.com/products/loire-valley-wine-region-map-poster
http://winefolly.com/review/chenin-blanc-wine-guide/
https://learn.winecoolerdirect.com/chenin-blanc/
Zraly’s Windows on the World Wine Course Book
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