2005 Michel Redde Sancerre Sauvignon Blanc Loire Valley France. Seven Seas Voyager. Light yellow color, light hue, lovely fruit and herb aromas with a hint of minerals, somewhat restrained fruit tastes with very good mineral notes and firm, bright acidity, well balance, good acid finish with mineral and apple notes. No EG. 3*
This wine worked beautifully with a creamy fish soup, "Swedish Style". Halibut, clams, crab, potatoes, fresh dill and other herbs. It sounds heavy but it was really quite smooth and elegant, and the racy acidity of the wine set off the soup brilliantly. I also tasted it with Janet's cucumber and yellow pepper soup with crabmeat and chive, again a smooth, elegant soup, and again the wine was a brilliant counterpoint.
Notes:
Kobrand: Cellars Established at Pouilly-sur-Loire, Nièvre, France
The Nièvre department lies along the right bank of the Loire River, approximately 120 miles southeast of Paris. The vineyards along the Loire riverbank stretch 670 miles across France, yet Pouilly-sur-Loire, near the river's mid-point, is the first region where the wines are entitled to appellation contrôlée status. The Pouilly-Fumé appellation covers roughly 2,250 acres in seven communes, the most important of which are Pouilly-sur-Loire, Saint-Andelin and Tracy. Opposite and just north of Pouilly-sur-Loire is the Sancerre appellation, in the Cher department. Its gently sloping vineyards cover 700 acres over thirteen communes, the best-known of which are Chavignol, Bué and Champtin.
Michel Redde and his son, Thierry, are the fifth and sixth generations of a family which has since early in the last century been grower-producers in this beautiful corner of the Loire Valley. The Redde estate of "La Moynerie" covers 85 acres just north of the town of Pouilly-sur-Loire, which has been extended piece by piece over the past few decades from the original 15 acres owned when Michel Redde took control of the property. The estate's vineyards are situated in the heart of the appellation on the crest of a hillside overlooking the Loire River exposed directly to the south. The soils supporting the Sauvignon Blanc vines in which the vineyard is planted vary, checkerboard fashion, between two types: chalky clay soils, which yield wines of elegance, harmony, concentration and longevity; and clay and silica soils, tending in color from red to blue- black, which produce nervy, vibrant wines with the "gunflint" character typical of Pouilly-Fumé. A portion of the vineyard planted in vines 80 years of age is the source of the estate's special cuvée, "Cuvée Majorum," an extraordinary example of a Pouilly-Fumé of complexity, depth and longevity. Michel Redde's Pouilly-Fumé "La Moynerie" is produced from the estate's younger vines, which, benefitting from the vineyard's southern exposure, yield a ripe, intensely perfumed wine of quintessential typicity. His Sancerre, "Les Tuilières," is produced from grapes and musts purchased from numerous growers with whom Michel Redde has done business for years.