Photos from a past visit to Sancerre and other regions of Le Centre: 1. The village of Sancerre; 2. Sancerre town; 3. Sancerre's three soils; 4. Jesse Becker, MS, Emmanuel Mellot and Dominique Roger in Bué; 5. Beth Becker in St-Andelin; 6. The road to Chavignol; 7. A perfect Crottin de Chavignol; 8. Beth near Chavignol; 9. The tiny hamlet of Verdigny at dusk. 

The Loire River extends itself for over 1000 kilometers and its myriad of valleys and tributaries makes for France's most diverse and multi-facted wine region.

The Loire begins in the Massif Central and flows north towards the city of Orléans before it sharply bends left and makes it way to the Atlantic ocean. It's between the Massif and Orléans where the fringe of Burgundy can be felt with its countless lieux-dits (named vineyards) and the occasional plots of Pinot Noir. But it is in Sancerre, the world's benchmark example of Sauvignon Blanc, that the wines of Le Centre (the central vineyards of France) really shine. In Sancerre, Sauvignon excels on the same Kimmeridgian soils that define Chablis. In Pouilly-Fumé, silex (flint) lends a hallmark pierre à fusil (gun flint) aroma to its wines. 

Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé are only two of the Central appellations with something to express. Menetou-Salon, Quincy and Reuilly provide plenty of Sauvignon and Pinot to ponder deeply despite their humble pricing. 

I recently wrote a few words about the Loire on our website. Click here and scroll down to read more about all the diversity and pleasure that the Loire has to offer. 

 

If you're wondering why there hasn't been a post since last week it's because of Abe Schoener, proprietor and winemaker of Scholium Project. You can read Abe's story here and here so I don't think I'll get into it on this blog. I did, however, have every intention of writing a few words about Abe's wines after tasting with him at his winery on Monday but the experience has left me speechless.

Two white wines from Scholium Project: 2006 The Prince in His Caves and 2007 La Severita di Bruto.

First, was an over-the-top tasting of about thirty barrels of his Petite Sirah project named Babylon. I'm no fan of Petite Sirah, which is usually about as graceful as a block of cement, but these showed blood and iron and even pretty floral notes and I found myself forgetting about their density and power. Later that night, I brought a bottle of 2005 Bricco, the top Petite Sirah cuvée in the Babylon series, to a dinner expecting my friends to find the same nuanced complexity that I tasted earlier that day. But my friends found the wine blocky and alcoholic. Was it the wine? Was it the time and place?

An outstanding free-range bird at the St. Helena farmer's market roasted up Julia Child-style was excellent with two wines from Scholium Project.

We opened two more of Abe's wines last night with this tasty bird from the St. Helena farmer's market. Beth said it best, "up is down, black is white, right is left, these are nothing like what you would expect". Both wines showed a freakish array of complex aromas and flavors. The 2006 The Prince in His Caves, a Sauvignon Blanc with three weeks of skin contact, showed camphor, ginger and marmelade, pine cone, rosemary, resin, musk...sex! This was much brighter and higher-toned than the 2007 La Severita di Bruto, a whole-cluster pressed Sauvignon with a fermentation that stuck in December of 2007 and did not restart until after the 2008 harvest and then did not go dry until March of 2009! Beth said it smelled (at first) like a "box of plastic drinking straws". I'm still trying to figure that one out but I did find a bizarre fondant or icing thing with the first glass. Then, with more oxygen, the wine unleashed a fury of aroma including celery frond, chervil, calcified earth, bone marrow, steeped pekoe tea, meyer lemons, and rock salt.

Scholium Project wines are interesting and great with roasted chicken, broad beans, and sweet corn!

What surprised me most about these two wines was how well they paired with a simple dinner of roasted chicken and summer vegetables. Both wines were very complex and I'm glad I kept the flavors of the food simple. Scholium Project wines will grab your attention and you'll find yourself talking about them long after the dishes are done. Up next, reduction = minerality?

I just received the new issue of Sommelier Journal where you'll find a feature article written by yours truly on the lieux-dits of Sancerre. Elizabeth and I lived and worked in Sancerre with Alphonse Mellot in 2008 and we spent quite a lot of time in the vineyards, walking the terrain and tasting the wines. I'm really proud of the article, which has been on hold since early '09, and has finally made it to print. We celebrated the event by opening a bottle of 2005 Patient Cottat Sancerre Rouge and paired it with some broiled wild King Salmon which I'm told is in short supply this year. A great pairing and an even better stroll down memory lane.