Remarkable Loire Chenin
The last couple of evenings have seen me tussle with a profound but challenging Loire Chenin. It's Savennieres Roche Aux Moines 1994 from Domaine Aux Moines (website here), which I'm pretty sure comes from Caves de Pyrene. A deep gold colour it has a wonderful nose of tangerine, lemon, minerals and a faint hint of spice. The palate is tangy, deep and dry with good acidity, some apricot and a lovely cheesy, herby sort of Chenin complexity, together with citrussy freshness. It's dry, savoury and intense: quite a challenging cerebral sort of wine. A bit like a dry Sauternes in flavour profile. Very good/excellent 93/100It goes pretty well with two cheeses I bought from Harvey Nicholls' food hall before the Craggy Range tasting: a beautifully tangy, nutty Reserve Comte, and a wondefully intense, tangy Montgomery Cheddar which hasn't yet reached the crystalline sort of stage that this cheese can evolve into.
Labels: cheese, Chenin Blanc, Loire
posted by Jamie @ 8:25 PM
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3 Comments:
It is from Les Caves de Pyrene - and under a tenner. Your description is great: it is cheese, apples, nuts and honey and seems to veer towards amontillado but the classic Chenin acidity reins it in and bolts it to the floor. I would certainly hit the fromage with it; although I would plump for a goat's cheese. Yum.
Roches aux Moines is brilliant. If you can get a handful of these, you know what to bring with you the next time you're in Singapore! :)
Doug, I'm a fan.
HM, I will do this. Thanks so much for your hospitality on my last trip. It was good catching up with you.
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