While my friend Suzanne was growing up and experiencing her college years in France she, like many of us, was going for sweet, easy to drink and cheap wine. These wines were often Coteaux du Layon AOC wines, which is an AOC near Angers (Loire Valley) that is known for sweet wines all made from Chenin Blanc. These grapes are often harvested once they have been effected by Noble rot, which is a nice term for saying infected by a fungus on a ripe grape (yummy!). This fungus reduces water in the grape thereby raising the amount of sugar in the grape making it more sweet.
Given that wines from this region are known for being sweet you can imagine her surprise when she is at a Michelin starred meal and her course paired with a wine from this region that wasn’t sweet! That is not what you expect from this region. Why was this wine different? The amazing thing about this particular bottle of wine by Moulin Touchais is that the wine is never sold young. It will always have a minimum of 10 years of aging! When I was learning about this wine, I couldn’t believe it, a white wine that is not sold until it has been aged ten year. For a Californian that was shocking! In addition to this, 20% of the grapes are also harvested much earlier than typical Chenin grapes in the area giving it a higher acidity level and thus a higher lifespan, and the 80% that are harvested late are not harvested so late to have been impacted by noble rot (sorry fungus!). All of this love and attention makes for a much less sweet wine and a wine that is full-boded with a great deal of depth, a long finish, and a true surprise to drink. The wine in the photo is from 1996 and is definitely a great wine for all of us cork dorks!
