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The more we drink the wines from France’s Loire Valley, be they red, white, pink or bubbly, the more we like them and the more we WANT to drink them. Despite the diversity of regions (there are 87 appellations and sub-appellations), there is usually a common thread that runs through them, and, at least for us, it’s based on the minerality that almost all seem to show. Our friends at Vineyard Brands sent us three samples for review recently, and each showed varying degrees of that stony quality that we’ve come to crave when we pour ourselves a glass of wine. We started out with a specimen of unlikely, but not-unheard-of, Loire Chardonnay.

2008 Bernier Chardonnay Vin du Pays du Val de Loire, 12% alc., $11.99 SRP: This medium colored Chardonnay grown right across the road from Muscadet is heavy on the minerality in a way that you’d expect from the region and in a way that I like. I’ve read reviews about this wine that compare it favorably to Chablis, and while I can taste that, to me it’s very Loire in character, with its stony under-ripe apple, grapefruit and racy acidity. Medium-full-to-full bodied, with very good intensity of flavor, good length and at least a few years of development potential with all that nervosity. Nice stuff this, and an excellent buy for the price. I’m thinking seafood for this one. find this wine

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We last tasted Patient Cottat Sancerre Vielles Vignes back on Bastille Day, 2007; it was the 2005 vintage, and we liked it a lot. The 2008 version seems every bit as good as that one, if not even better.

2008 Patient Cottat Sancerre Vielles Vignes, 12.5% alc., $27.99: This clean, medium colored wine exudes the pure essense of Sauvignon Blanc, with intense flavors and aromas of grapefruit, gooseberry and mineral, all underscored with an ever-so-subtle herbaceous note; just a bit tart and rather racy, with excellent acidity on a medium-full bodied frame. I’ll take this any day over almost any Sauvignon from New Zealand, California, South Africa or any other non-Loire source. This is the real thing, baby!!! find this wine

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Like the Sancerre noted above, the following wine is produced by the Fournier family, who are located in the small village of Verdigny in the Sancerre region, and have been making wine for many generations. Their vineyards are located in the the appellations of Menetou Salon, Pouilly-Fume and Sancerre.

2008 Domaine de Berthiers Pouilly-Fume, 12.5% alc., $26.99: Clean, medium color, with typical grapefruit and gooseberry character, neither as aggressive nor as intense as the Cottat Sancerre noted directly above; has a slightly chalky element that seems to tone down the attack, but not in a negative manner. Medium-full bodied, with good acids and length. Nice balance and presence; a more well-mannered Sauvignon than the Sancerre, but one with the goods to deliver pleasure in a variety of settings, and if I don’t like it quite as well as the previous selection, it’s just fine on its own terms. find this wine

Imported by Vineyard Brands, Inc., Birmingham, AL

Reporting from Day-twah,

geo t.

Related posts:

1. Two Whites from Edmunds St. John
2. 3 2008 Chateau Grand Traverse Rieslings
3. 2008 Chateau Grand Traverse Semi-Dry Riesling ~ The One That Almost Got Away
4. 2008 Château d’Oupia Les Heretiques
5. 2008 Foillard Morgon Côtes du Py

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