Tuesday I was utterly surprised when my Outlook calendar quite noisily reminded me that I needed a white wine from the Loire for the evening. I've opted to come out of my self-imposed exile for Wine Blogging Wednesday. However, I went into a slight panic when I realized I needed to hunt down the appropriate wine. On a whim, I checked our various wine racks and there it was, a 2004 Yves Bruessin...

This week Alder at Vinography is hosting Wine Blog Wednesday. In honor of the second year anniversary of WBW, Alder chose the theme: Loire Valley Whites. However, being that we are sitting in the dead center of Spain, I had to search far and wide for wines that were not from the Tempranillo drinking and olive eating country. And if you have ever been to Spain, you would know that the task...

Retenus parmi les 21 finalistes, dont 3 vignerons du Val de Loire, pour l'élection des "Jeunes Talents du Vin" 2006, Lise Girard et Bertrand Jousset, du domaine L & B à Montlouis-sur-Loire, ont été choisis par le jury pour recevoir l'un des quatre "Raisins d'honneur...

Pour la troisième année consécutive, le salon Fougère, salon Bio et environnement de Tours, s'installera au Parc des Expositions de Tours le samedi 30 septembre et dimanche 1er octobre 2006. Et parmi les 180 exposants de ce salon qui s'incrit parmi les plus importantes manifestations bio de France, 15 vignerons, dont la moitié sont issus du Val de Loire, présenteront leurs vins issus de raisins...

Savennieres ‘Coulee de Serrant’ 2001 This wine is from Nicolas Joly, the Loire valleys champion of biodynamic wine-making. Low sulphur, old oak, wild yeast, no temperature control and lots of racking produce wines that are full of character and have a firm stamp of sense of place. The first hint of the oxidative handling techniques...

Cheverny is an impressive French Chateau, in the big fancy house sense rather than the wine corporation way. There’s an absurd quantity of Chateau along the Loire as it heads east to west, and cycling through the neighbourhood it’s easy for them to blur together. This one is probably easiest ... fruits to the more traditional zippy Loire flavours, making it a happy compromise between the two...

Cheverny is an impressive French Chateau, in the big fancy house sense rather than the wine corporation way. There’s an absurd quantity of Chateau along the Loire as it heads east to west, and cycling through the neighbourhood it’s easy for them to blur together. This one is probably easiest ... fruits to the more traditional zippy Loire flavours, making it a happy compromise between the two...

This wine was sent in by the importer - Monsieur Olivier Gallut of Old Bordeaux Wines and I must admit that I am not very familiar with the style. It is from the Loire Valley - AC Sevre et Maine and made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape. The ’sur lie’ refers to the fact that it is kept on lees for a period before bottling. Anyone who loves bottle aged Hunter semillon would be instantly familiar...

Le Val de Loire est-il un vignoble entièrement dédié à la production de vin bio ? On pourrait presque le croire en découvrant la sélection des vins de Loire dans les Foires aux vins 2006 de WindeandCo qui fait la part belle aux vins issus de l'agriculture biologique, biodynamique ou en conversion ... Folie à Montlouis-sur-Loire...

This tasty Rosé is from the Bourré in the Loire Valley. Sorry about the battered wine label. The winery is owned by David Levin and the winemaker is Thierry Merlet. Thierry has a diverse past, having received training at Château la Tour Blanche in Bordeaux and in Burgundy, and has worked in Australia with Brian Croser at Petaluma, in Oregon too. A light red blush. Macerated strawberries...