After a long hiatus I’m back with a new Wine review. This spring we spent six weeks in Scotland and while there I put wine on a back burner and learned to appreciate a enjoy single malt scotch whisky. While quite different than wine, they share the same characteristic of terroir which I found very interesting.

On to the wine review. Delving into Old World wines can be very intimidating because producers often don’t label the grape variety on the bottle but instead the region in which the wine was produced. This can make it hard to know what you are drinking unless you memorize all the regions and what they are known for. Reading a good book is how I started to learn the regions. The flip side is if you start experimenting with regions and find a wine you like who cares what the grape is!

Vouvray is found in the Loire Valley region of France. Known for its white wine the main grape used here is Chenin Blanc. This grape is also used heavily in South Africa but with different results. In France it is known to be a bit crisper yet slightly sweeter to the dryer African version. I don’t normally go for sweet wines but found this wine amazingly refreshing in the midst of our hot summer.

See: The wine has a very pale straw yellow colour with some green hues. Being a young wine I’m not surprised by the greenness and would expect it to go away with age. As I swish it around I notice it is very thin and has no legs really

Smell: For some reason in my head I expected a very aromatic wine but was surprised how delicate it was. There is citrusy fruit there, lime and orange, but also some light tropical aromas. On top of that I find lots of honey, quite a pleasing aroma. Not overly complex but very enjoyable.

Taste: The wine has a medium body and lots of prickly acidity, almost like bubbles from a sparkling wine. It definitely has an off dry sweetness but I find the zesty acidity helps to balance this and it doesn’t come across to sweet. The fruit flavours lean more toward apple and pear, but there also is an orange citrus element to it. The moderately length finish has a lot of dry mineral taste, again helping to balance out the sweetness to end things off nicely.

Conclusion: We tend to drink more white wine in the summer because it is refreshing and this one falls into that category nicely. While not very complex it has all the elements of a good hot summers day wine while being a bit more interesting than most value white wines. I give it a 8.5/10 and I even asked our local wine store to bring it is because I originaly found it out of town. So if you are in Lacombe and want a nice white wine, head down to Chateau Wine and Spirits and pick up a bottle!

• Chenin Blanc
• Vouvray, Loire Valley, France
• 2013 – 11%
• Guy Saget
• $17.75 at Chateau Wine and Spirits
• Real Cork

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