Clos Rougeard's rare (and pricey) Chenin Blanc is one of the most intriguing white wines of the Loire Valley. This Pradeaux rose is only a year old, but already offers a glimpse of what time in the cellar will do. Been so busy lately with work that I just haven't had time to write here. Whoa, this is just amazing wine. Briny.

If you know in advance that you will be opening a bottle of wine a few days from now, I suggest standing it up vertically in the cellar to let the sediment fall to the bottom of the bottle. It really depends on the wine: Auslesen and old sweet Chenin Blanc can appear really dark and be perfectly fine, for instance. I'm patient.

At Backsberg you will find wines in various quality levels, with whites including Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and sparklers as well including Viognier. In the fullness of time he became a butcher, then bought the farm that is today Backsberg Estate Cellars. Arco Laamar & Harry Haddon (checked shirt). News S.

On my recent trip to the Loire, I got an excellent chance to explore this issue at the cellars of none other than Domaine Bernard Baudry in Chinon, one of my favorite producers in the Loire. The Domaine makes only wines from cabernet franc, with the exception of a white wine from chenin blanc at the Croix Boisée vineyard.

As we sat down I took out the wine I brought along, the 2008 Pierre Gonon St Joseph Blanc Les Oliviers , $32, Fruit of the Vines Imports. This is a phenomenal wine, and one of the interesting things about it is that honestly, served blind, there would be no way to peg it as Sauvignon Blanc. Thai food for the western palate.

It has come up a few times in (offline) discussion that I have been in recently: do people still cellar wine? Just as it is advisable to play tennis with someone better than you to sharpen your skills, it is also advisable to find a generous friend who has a better (or, at least) different cellar than yours. Is mature wine relevant?

It was not made using biodynamic farming principles, and I have no idea what Denise Joly did in her cellars. Peter suspects, actually, that this wine is was made under what were standard practices - pesticides galore in the vineyards, who knows what in the cellars. wine like this provides pleasure on many levels. 0% fruit.

Chenin blanc is one of the world’s most underrated grapes. polled them after tasting, and to my amazement, only two people disliked the wine–chenin blanc with such low negatives, it could run for office! But this is chenin through and through. It can tack on decades effortlessly. Consider decanting.

Imported by European Cellars. 2005 Damien Laureau Savennières Le Bel Ouvrage , $32, Jon-David Headrick Selections, Imported by European Cellars. loved how completely woolly the wine was, compared with the flowery fruit and crystalline shimmer of the Savennières - such wonderfully different expressions of Chenin Blanc.

John Gilman, author of the newsletter The View from the Cellar , joins us again for a Q&A. But being younger than the gentleman I just mentioned, I do not have the same reserves of old vintages of white Burgundy or white Bordeaux in my cellar, and so premox has really hit my collection hard. Are these wines forcibly better?

We blind-tasted the wines and individually picked our two favorites for current drinking, along with a wine that we would want for the cellar. it was interesting to note that some of us were reminded of Chenin Blanc when drinking these wines, in that they took on a woolly note as they aired out. Our first theme is Cour-Cheverny.

Savennières wines are world-class whites from Chenin Blanc, wines with enormous cellaring potential, but they are wines that can be austere in their youth, like a barren moonscape - nothing but rocks and sand. Both the 2002 and the 2004 Bel Ouvrage seem like they will develop beautifully with cellar time.

want to give her great wines, wines that will improve with 19 years of cellaring. Many people consider these to be the finest Chenin Blancs from the Loire Valley and in the world. 2007 Domaine Hu e t Vouvray Sec Clos du Bourg , $28, Robert Chadderdon Selections. And happily, I can afford to buy and drink them.

We’re back with Part Deux of our interview with John Gilman, author of the newsletter A View from the Cellar ( part one is here ). How do you make a screwcap-sealed wine taste and smell like rotting cabbage or burning rubber- put it in the cellar for a few years. German Riesling. And I really don’t understand why. The Loire.

Recently it was our turn to host wine group and I chose Loire Chenin Blancs as the theme. And this is an interloper, a wine made from the Romorantin grape, not a Chenin Blanc. Although I am not a fan of the 2005, my commitment to cellaring my '02s and '04s is renewed. And because our wine tastes are quite diverse.

went for the Bubbles, the Beaujolais, the Cab Franc, and the Chenin Blanc. In honor of their 20th anniversary, the Dressner folk dug into the cellar and set out a load of wines from their inaugural vintage. The Blanc de Blancs was opened as I was standing there and needed time to come together. Next was Beaujolais.

have a lot of the young stuff in the cellar - shouldn't I know more about what happens to this wine in 20 years? Then again, keep in mind that I'm not terribly familiar with what good quality Chenin Blanc from a good vintage smells or tastes like when it matures. Another time and another post. Kind of a ragoût, anyway. Simple.

Cousin cultivates Gamay, Grolleau, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and Chenin Blanc - there is something for everyone in this portfolio. They can be funky and a bit rustic, but they evolve beautifully in the glass and in the cellar, and offer a clean and pure expression of the terroir that is Layon.

Ben Hagan, one of the wine buyers at Slope Cellars in Park Slope, Brooklyn recommends (Slope Cellars prices listed) : Whites: 2006 Caves de Saumur Saumur Les Pouches, $13, LVDH Imports (100% Chenin Blanc). For several months now the Euro is comfortably in the 1.5 range. Yup, it costs over $1.50 to buy one Euro. So there.

began in a French table area and tried some Sancerres (made from Sauvignon Blanc), some white Burgundys (made from Chardonnay) and some white blends. An under appreciated grape here in the Western world is Chenin Blanc. Domaine Francois Pinon from the Loire Valley makes some demi-sec (semi sweet) wines from Chenin blanc.

And if you're into cellaring wine, these will improve for at least a decade, probably longer. I'm guessing that people will eventually look to this as a benchmark for 2005 Loire Valley Chenin Blanc. Here is a concentrated and intense Loire Cab Franc that will reward time in the cellar. Even so, the quality is so obvious.

The white is called Breze and is 100% Chenin Blanc. have never tasted this wine - it retails at over $70 and I just haven't gone there yet on a Chenin. If I were ever to spend that kind of dough on a Chenin, it would be either this wine or a Joly Coul é e de Serrant. This retails for approximately $35. Bordeaux?

Lenn can tell you about the producers who make wine that truly reflects climate and terroir, he can tell you about experiments planting Chenin Blanc and other grapes new to the region, and he can tell you how Long Island wines improve each year as wine makers hone their craft. The back roads of Pernand-Vergelesses? definitely got it.

love French wine, but the good doctor ruled out what he called "the big six grapes" from France, namely Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir. Chenin Blanc is, in my opinion, the superstar white grape of the Loire Valley. But it's the Chenin Blanc wines that are so shattering to me.

to lay down in the cellar for a while. White grape is still the eloquent and majestic Chenin Blanc, appellations are called Coteaux de Loir and Jasnieres. Its been a really good wine drinking month. 2001 Domaine Rollin Pernand-Vergelesses , $30 (375ml). Drank at a restaurant, so retail would be about $12-15, I imagine.

Sancerre, the darling of wine bars everywhere a few years ago, is made from Sauvignon Blanc. Many producers say that demi-sec (off dry) is the best expression of Chenin Blanc. They make many wines, some for drinking young, some for cellaring, like this one from the great Perrieres vineyard in Bourgueil. And $17 - c'mon.

But I also noticed from reading Jack and Joanne's biodynamic wine producers guide , that many of the wines that I love and cellar are right there on the list, particularly in the Loire Valley: Closel, Breton, St. Hosted by a different blogger each month, it also seems to build community among bloggers and blog readers. cents. Next time.

Cheverny wines are a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, with the Sauvignon Blanc the primary grape at about 70%. Like the great Chenin Blanc grape, also a daughter of the Loire Valley, Romorantin might show best in its demi-sec (off-dry) form. I hesitate to do this, because right now it's still basically a secret.

The entire back wall is devoted to Loire whites, including many differe t chenin blancs from Savennieres, Vouvray, and somethimes the lesser known Montlouis sur Loire, Coteaux du Loir and Jasnieres. We checked out the dark and dank cellar where hundreds.thousands (?) We then toured the facilities.

Savennieres is one of the great Loire Valley appellations, producing amazing white wines made from the chenin blanc grape. Many wines made in Savennieres can improve for decades with cellaring. The wines are usually dry with pronounced minerality, and when well made, offer beautiful stone fruit and honey flavors. Mais bien sur!