Wine Focus March 2023 - Benchmarks of Chenin Blanc

In the Loire basin, there are three broad areas which can produce outstanding wines from Chenin, namely Anjou (particularly at Coteaux du Layon, Savennnières and Saumur), where the wines tend to be more generous and alcoholic, central Touraine (particularly at Vouvray and Montlouis) and northern Touraine (Jasnières and Coteaux du Loir), where the wines are leaner but at best very elegant. Vouvray and Montlouis are best represented in my cellar where I have left a large handful of mature bottles of sec, demi-sec and moelleux from Foreau, Huet, Chidaine and Blot. The sec from Foreau is usually drier and crisper than that of Huet, where levels of RS are sometimes in excess of 10g/l though beautifully balanced by juicy acidity. The wines of both these producers usually age beautifully, though this one was past its best.

2001 Foreau Domaine du Clos Naudin Vouvray Sec - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray (15/03/2023)
This is a slight disappointment for me, a big fan of Philippe Foreau's wines. According to my CT inventory, my very good bottle drunk in 2015 was my last, but this one turned up in the place of a missing 2004 when I was relocating my stock. In the intervening years, I think this wine, from a moderately rated Loire vintage IIRC, seems to have lost bloom and complexity while not showing strong signs of age related "off" flavours or oxidation. The nose was quite shy with typical antique wax notes but not much quince or other fruit and floral aroma. The palate was linear in shape, crisp and well focused with a follow through of the aromas from the nose but with less underlying roundness than I was expecting. Perhaps the pairing of barbue fish with a spicy vegetable preparation followed by overripe goat cheese obscured the wine's finer points. Still good nevertheless and this time if really was my last bottle.
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2001 Foreau Domaine du Clos Naudin Vouvray Sec - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray (15/03/2023)
This is a slight disappointment for me...

Always disappointing to be disappointed, especially when one has been holding onto a bottle for so long. But, at 20+ years, it definitely happens!

Savennières in Anjou is a benchmark appellation for dry Loire basin Chenin. This one is from a little known estate picked up at a Foire aux Vins last autumn for c.€7! on the basis of a QPR recommendation in the RVF. We served it with an excellent traditional cod recipe from a 50s Belgian royal chef which contrasted sharply with the exiguous and fussy modern culinary creations being displayed last night in a Top Chef competition programme on TV.

2018 Château de la Mulonnière Savennières - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Savennières (30/03/2023)
Like with last October's bottle, there is sharp focus and minerality but now the underlying roundness is perceptible from the outset. Add to that white fruit and a feel of antique wax supporting the finish and there is a lot to like. Very good.
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...an excellent traditional cod recipe from a 50s Belgian royal chef...

Which was?

I must admit, most times I cook fish there isn't much of a 'recipe'. Or, more accurately summarized as 'heat it up and add some flavors'...

...an excellent traditional cod recipe from a 50s Belgian royal chef...

Which was?

I must admit, most times I cook fish there isn't much of a 'recipe'. Or, more accurately summarized as 'heat it up and add some flavors'...

The chef was Gaston Clément (1878-1973) and he called the recipe "cabillaud à l'ancienne", but his is different from what comes under that name by Googling. I'll try and get the details from Germaine tomorrow. I don't think I've ever had a better preparation of cod, often a rather dull fish IMO.

[Jenise]

Savennières in Anjou is a benchmark appellation for dry Loire basin Chenin. This one is from a little known estate picked up at a Foire aux Vins last autumn for c.€7! on the basis of a QPR recommendation in the RVF. We served it with an excellent traditional cod recipe from a 50s Belgian royal chef which contrasted sharply with the exiguous and fussy modern culinary creations being displayed last night in a Top Chef competition programme on TV.

2018 Château de la Mulonnière Savennières - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Savennières (30/03/2023)
Like with last October's bottle, there is sharp focus and minerality but now the underlying roundness is perceptible from the outset. Add to that white fruit and a feel of antique wax supporting the finish and there is a lot to like. Very good.
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Tim, I'm curious if you're watching the same Top Chef that I'm watching. International cast--one Buddha Lo made a cod dish that might be what you're referring to--with cucumber scales?

Jenise, the Top Chef which I was watching was a purely French affair, although some of the contestants came from elsewhere, e.g. Italy, Sénégal, but fluently French speaking. If any of them had proposed Gaston Clément's traditional cod recipe they would have been laughed out of the competition by the judges. Here it is both in French and a Google translation which required hardly any correction (this translation function is getting much better!).

Une queue de cabillaud d’environ 1,5 kg que vous mettez à tremper dans de l’eau salée durant une couple d’heures. Hachez finement un gros oignon ; mettez-le dans une casserole avec un morceau de beurre ; faites cuire sans le laisser colorer ; ajouter 100 g de champignons hachés ; faites très légèrement rissoler. Saupoudrez avec une cuillerée à soupe de farine, mélangez et ajoutez un décilitre de vin blanc, deux décilitres d’eau. Assaisonnez de sel, poivre et muscade râpée ; laissez cuire durant quelques minutes. Egouttez le poisson, séchez-le bien, mettez-le dans un plat à gratin, copieusement beurré. Arrosez de beurre fondu et faites rôtir durant quelques minutes, le temps de faire colorer le poisson. Couvrez alors avec la sauce dans laquelle vous aurez incorporé un jaune d’œuf et du persil haché. Saupoudrez de mie de pain ou de chapelure et semez des petits morceaux de beurre sur le tout. Mettez au four pour continuer la cuisson et verser lorsque le tout est bien doré. Servez en même temps des pommes de terre bien farineuses.

A cod tail of about 1.5 kg that you soak in salt water for a couple of hours. Finely chop a large onion; put it in a saucepan with a piece of butter; cook without letting it brown; add 100 g of chopped mushrooms; sauté very lightly. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of flour, mix and add a deciliter of white wine, two deciliters of water. Season with salt, pepper and grated nutmeg; cook for a few minutes. Drain the fish, dry it well, put it in a gratin dish, generously buttered. Sprinkle with melted butter and roast for a few minutes, the time to brown the fish. Then cover with the sauce in which you have incorporated an egg yolk and chopped parsley. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and scatter small pieces of butter over everything. Put in the oven to continue cooking and pour when everything is golden brown. Serve floury textured potatoes at the same time.

This was a good one!

2014 Domaine de la Taille aux Loups Montlouis-sur-Loire Remus Plus - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Montlouis-sur-Loire (07/04/2023)
This is delicious Montlouis at its prime or even a bit past it. The colour is amber of medium intensity, the nose is a delightful amalgam of white fruit, flowers, nuts, fine minerals and hints of spice and the medium+ bodied, well focussed and long palate adds a slightly honeyed underlying roundness and a firmness in the finish infused with just a hint of sherry. It is this last element, delightful as a hint, which makes me wonder whether more obvious oxidation is not quite close. Excellent but with a mental notes to open my remaining bottle quite soon.
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Thanks to Tim for keeping this thread going! I have a Foreau in the refrigerator but not sure when I'll get to it. Probably not until May...

And thanks for posting the recipe. A bit more involved than I usually get with fish, but something to consider...

A cod tail of about 1.5 kg that you soak in salt water for a couple of hours. Finely chop a large onion; put it in a saucepan with a piece of butter; cook without letting it brown; add 100 g of chopped mushrooms; sauté very lightly. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of flour, mix and add a deciliter of white wine, two deciliters of water. Season with salt, pepper and grated nutmeg; cook for a few minutes. Drain the fish, dry it well, put it in a gratin dish, generously buttered. Sprinkle with melted butter and roast for a few minutes, the time to brown the fish. Then cover with the sauce in which you have incorporated an egg yolk and chopped parsley. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and scatter small pieces of butter over everything. Put in the oven to continue cooking and pour when everything is golden brown. Serve floury textured potatoes at the same time.

I've tried a couple of dry chenins over the last few nights, both from South Africa (SA). Both very good, but very different. It shows the range of styles available in SA. They aren't trying to recreate Loire chenin, which is a good thing I think.

The 2020 Daschbosch Chenin Blanc Mossiedrift Steen was a good old vine chenin from the Breede River Valley region in SA. It was a rich, ripe, oaked version that you often (but certainly not always) find in SA, but almost never find in the Loire. I agree with the previous Cellartracker note writers, this is an impressive chenin that is great QPR here in BC, especially at the current sale price. There are concentrated, rich stonefruit flavours, well judged oak and some woolly/lanolin notes - a well crafted wine indeed, if you like the style. I bought more of this (A-).

The 2020 Terre Brullee Le Blanc chenin (40 year old vines) is from the Swartland region in SA, produced by Vincent Careme (and his SA wife), who is a respected, long time producer in Vouvray. This was more Loire-like than the Daschbosch, but still had a touch of oak that suggests SA. There are nice stonefruit flavours again, just a kiss of oak and minerals, and a lovely creamy texture. Great balance and elegance here, and great QPR again with the current sale price. I bought more of this too (A-)!

When I culled some 150 whites with RS from my cellar a few years ago, there were several Vouvray demi-sec and moelleux from Foreau and Huet which I kept back alongside a handful of Germans, Sauternes and Jurançon. I used this to pair with a poulet vallée d'Auge (a sort of chicken stew in a sauce of cream, Norman cider and Calvados) and it went wonderfully well. It was so well balanced that the sweetness hardly showed and even my daughter who usually hates sweeties loved it in this context.

2002 Foreau Domaine du Clos Naudin Vouvray Demi-Sec - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray (16/04/2023)
My previous bottle was opened as long ago as 2014 but, in the intervening 9 years, it seems to have changed very little and I can use much of the same description. The nose was expressive with notes of white fruit including pineapple, quince, apples and pears, wax, almonds and minerals. The palate was medium bodied, linear and long, perfectly balanced and focused with mouth-watering acidity offsetting a discreetly sweet round undertow with a gentle crescendo to a firm and long finish with all the aromatic elements in seamless harmony. Beautiful though it was, the bottle aroused a tad less emotion in me than the previous, as can be seen from my edits of the previous TN, and that could be due to some loss of vibrancy from the extra age without a big improvement in complexity. Or was it just mood? Still excellent.
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