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. Then Levi pulls out a 1996 Francis Cotat Sancerre La Grande Côte , Michael Skurnik Imports. We agreed that it smelled, tasted, and really felt like Chenin Blanc - an old Montlouis, Levi said.

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’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.

began in a French table area and tried some Sancerres (made from Sauvignon Blanc), some white Burgundys (made from Chardonnay) and some white blends. The Sancerre's of Gerard Boulay were generally very nice. An under appreciated grape here in the Western world is Chenin Blanc. don't know. great wine. Onto the reds.

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. Away from the more famous Loire villages of Vouvray, Chinon, and Sancerre, there lies the Loir river, the masculine counterpart to the Loire. White grape is still the eloquent and majestic Chenin Blanc, appellations are called Coteaux de Loir and Jasnieres. Buy carefully in 2001.

One thing I should mention - I did not include red grapes other than Cabernet Franc - no Pinot Noir from Menetou Salon or Sancerre, no Gamay from Anjou.I 2005 Thomas-Labaille Sancerre les Monts Damnees , $21 (Our cases diverge here). Sancerre, the darling of wine bars everywhere a few years ago, is made from Sauvignon Blanc.

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.