Bonjour tout le monde! Hello, everyone, and welcome again to Cèpage et Cuisine, Mary’s and Brian’s wine and food blog. Today, we’re posting a quick note on a delicious wine that is a bit off the beaten wine path, especially for Americans. Vouvray is a small French town in the heart of France’s Loire Valley. The wine of Vouvray is Chenin Blanc, but like almost all French wines, the grape variety is not indicated on the label.
Vouvray is produced in a variety of styles, but often has a bit of unfermented residual sugar, called demi-sec, which means medium-dry. It gives the wine a bit more richness and a kind of honeyed flavor. It usually retains good acidity for balance, however, and does not have a syrupy sweet texture or flavor. It pairs nicely with a variety of light food such as flaky white fish, scallops, mussels, and chicken dishes with light sauces. We paired this wine with the sea bass and herbed bread crumbs that we described in a previous post.
Here are my notes on today’s wine.
Champalou Vouvray La Cuvée des Fondraux 2004. The wine was pale straw in color with subtle grapefruit citrus aroma and flinty minerality. This particular version of Champalou’s wine is demi-sec, so it has a bit of residual sweetness and was fermented in oak barrels. The oak provided creaminess but did not leave obvious oak aromas or flavors. The palate was lovely, medium in body with wonderful balance. It showed a bit of grapefruit, but also had a honeyed quality from the unfermented grape sugar and flavors of peach and apricot. We both thought it also showed a subtle almond quality … very nice. Beautifully balanced, moderately complex with a medium finish, delightful with food. 12.0% alcohol. This wine is widely available for $20 or under.
Here's our dinner for tonight. Sea bass with herbed bread crumb topping, wilted spinach, and a baked bean dish of giant limas, tomatoes, and parsley. The pairing with the Vouvray was delicious.
That’s our post for today. When you’re shopping for wine and would like to try something different and not too expensive, think about Vouvray with a nice seafood or poultry dinner. We think you’ll enjoy it. Keep coming back to Cèpage et Cuisine for more posts on wine and food. In the meantime,
Cheers!
Brian♥Mary
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