From: Loire Valley, France
Varietal: Chenin Blanc
Tasting Notes: “This wine will be bright yellow with fine, persistent bubbles. You will be greeted with citrus and white fruit. The Palate is fresh and lively and finishes with elegance and fruit.” –thewinefeed.com
Pairing: This sparkling Vouvray would make a great companion for richer seafood dishes such as this recipe for Crab Croque-Madame by David Tanis for the NYT.
At the heart of a vineyard that covers 2,000 hectares near the city of Tours, Christophe Boutet cultivates 12 hectares of vineyards in the appellations Vouvray and Montlouis-sur-Loire. His Chenin grows on clay-limestone soils with different plots, some with terraces overlooking the river, others on hillsides, but always in contact with the ‘tuff ’ as it is called there (a sedimentary rock unique to the Loire Valley).
This ‘méthode traditionnelle’ Vouvray Brut is aged for 4 months the on lees in stainless steel tanks ahead of fermentation. Boutet uses a personal blend of still wine to start the second fermentation process. Afterward, all bottles are riddled by hand by the owners, amounting to 3800-4200 bottles every six weeks. The riddling process ensures that all sediment gets collected at the neck of the bottle for disgorgement.
