Vouvray Blind Taste Off – Vintage Wine Tasters

When was the last time, if ever, you tasted a Vouvray wine? Vouvray is the appellation in the Loire Valley in France in which the wines are made from the Chenin Blanc grape. The wines are aged in stainless steel or in neutral barrels. The gentle high acidity of this wine, along with its wonderful floral characteristic, makes this a wonderful wine to go with the Spring and Summer months. This past Tuesday, the Vintage Wine Tasters met to blind taste six popular Vouvray wines.

Vintage Wine Taster Mike was the host for this wine tasting. After much research Mike settled on six Vouvray wines ranging in price from $12.99 to $20.99. The wines varied slightly in sugar but all were in the dry range. The wines in our estimation were all excellent wines, nicely balanced throughout and each worthy of purchasing for our home cellars. Here are the six wines we tasted and the order in which we judged them. We also list the price and where they were purchased.

• 2009 Champalou ” Cuvée des Fondraux” – $18.99 KL Wines
• 2009 François Pinon “Cuvée Silex Noir” – $20.99 KL Wines
• 2010 Vouvray Domain Pichot – $12.99 Weimax Wines
• 2009 Guy Saget Estates Marie de Beauregard – $12.99 Costco
• 2007 Domaine Des Aubisieres “Cuvée Silex” – $19.99 Weimax Wines
• 2010 Pierre et Catherine Breton “La Dilettante” Vouvray Sec -$19.99 KL Wines

Notes on Vouvray and Chenin Blanc
Because of the acidity Vouvray wines can age for a very long time. Mike pulled out from his vast wine cellar collection a 1983 Phillip Foreau Demi Sec Vouvray that was delicious with our dessert.

Very few Chenin Blanc wines are made in California. The San Francisco Chronicle recently ran a review of California Chenin Blanc wines.

All the Vintage Wine Tasters recalled that years ago one of the most popular wines around was Charles Krug Chenin Blanc. We argued what we paid for the wine, but best guess was it was between three and four dollars a bottle. The Charles Krug Chenin Blanc died in 1996.