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Regional portrait Loire Valley & Anjou: Northern French wine diversity at the last wild river
Europe
Wines & character in Anjou:
All colors, from dry to sweet. Medium to strong white wines,
Red wines light to medium-bodied, pithy, fruity and drinkable.
Red grape varieties: Grolleau (autochthonous), Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and many more.
White grape varieties: Chenin (autochthonous), Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and many others.
Represented at VINATURE: Benoît Courault, Anjou
The Loire Valley offers a royal welcome: on exposed hills and in quiet river valleys, famous castles
famous castles, all of which can refer to their local history and sometimes also to the history of the
royal history. The white tufa (a white, soft limestone) is
is not only found in the form of castles above ground, but also provides the region-specific
below the ground for the region-specific framework of the vineyards. Loamy soils, mostly interspersed with rich layers of pebbles and sand washed ashore by the Loire River, as well as
Chalk inclusions fill this framework and characterize the Anjou wines: Fine, firm, fruity.
No other wine-growing region in France is as diverse as that of the Loire: from east to west
It has dozens of grape varieties, some of them autochthonous.
The wines are correspondingly varied and achieve impressive character and expressiveness, especially in the whites. VINATURE offers wines from Anjou, historical heart of the Loire Valley:
It stretches a good 50 kilometers from Angers in the west to Saumur in the east.
from Angers in the west to Saumur in the east and offers two varieties of grapes with a hearty authenticity: the Grolleau
for red wines and the "Queen of the Loire" for white wines: Chenin! Both varieties come from the
the Loire Valley, with the Chenin being an all-rounder: from light to strong, dry to sweet (AOC
Côteaux du Layon), it impresses with a lot of character and a dazzling variety of flavors.
Even simple drinking wines, the Chenin still imprints his personal stamp, which is with
Sauvignon Blanc is not a matter of course. Chenin wines from the Anjou have a balanced, medium-bodied, are supported by a healthy acidity framework
and convince taste through their mineral aromas, which, however, not too dry,
but "fat", patronizing, round, sometimes reminiscent of flint and in the fine iodine aftertaste immediately asks for more ...
My favorite red grape variety in the Loire is Grolleau: the variety can deliver large quantities and
used to yield a light drinking wine that has always guaranteed carefree wine thirst quenching at the numerous counters of Anjou. But watch out: Grolleau can do more, much more: with reduced yields through targeted pruning (<40 hl/Ha) and coming from old vines
(50Y+), it has a floral-fruity bouquet of ripe red fruits, is underpinned by well structured
tannins and, as it matures in bottle (5Y+), acquires deeper, more complex notes, still trickling down well even then: more of it!
Depending on the winemaker and the cuvée, red grape varieties in Anjou include the indigenous Cabernet Franc and
Cabernet Sauvignon are also represented: Cabernet Franc usually tastes either too young (closed, metallic) or soon too old in conventionally made wines
(overlaid, dull). As a good natural wine, however, he convinces with leafy-vegetable
notes and pithy, but polished tannins and stands in some cuvées as a self-confident powerhouse in the background. Cabernet Sauvignon in Anjou has similar characteristics, but the body is more tannic and classic (cue Bordeaux) than Cabernet Franc.