Bevvy of the Week – Wines from the Loire Valley

Wines from the Loire Valley – Sancerre and Pouilly Fume

*this Bevvy of the Week post ‘Wines from the Loire Valley’ written by Patrick, was first published on The Life of Stuff on November 21st 2012. This repost has been updated with links and a new image – Edwina

‘Wine is bottled poetry’ – Robert Louis Stevenson

This week I will be talking about wine from the Loire Valley in France because one of my favourite wines comes from here.

The Loire is the longest river in France. It’s about 1,000km in length with vineyards planted along nearly half of that. The Loire Valley is split up into four wine-producing regions

1. Nantais 2. Anjou Samur 3. Touraine 4. Central Vineyard

The region we are going to look at is Central Vineyard as this is the most important region in the Loire. The grape variety for the whites is Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir for the reds (but we don’t see much of the red in Ireland).

Two main white wines come from this area, Sancerre and Pouilly Fume, made from 100% Sauvignon Blanc.

Most Sancerre is dry, high in acidity and have a herbaceous taste most people say gooseberry.

On the other side of the river you will find Pouilly Fume which is nearly the same wine as Sancerre but with one difference, Pouilly Fume is smoked. Well it has a smoky style. This smoky style comes from the flinty soil the vineyards are planted on.

So if you love Sauvignon Blanc and you have yet to try these great wines, you should be able to pick up a bottle for around €15 and all you have to do is ask yourself, SMOKED or UN-SMOKED.

Sláinte,

Patrick

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