The Humble Gourmand

Dear friends,

I’ve been doing my homework.

This past July was spent in Tours at a French intensive program, which put one more notch up the pole of getting fluent. For me, mastering French is a far longer road than expected, especially since my franco-anglophone friends speak to me mostly in English, a little French for good measure – Franglais – as it’s so often called.

To celebrate the completion of such an academic month, a weekend was arranged with friends at their ancient house in ‘Chahaignes,’ a little village in the Loire which abuts the obscure wine region of Jasnieres. Four adult daughters of an American mother and French father, their hearts properly divided between both cultures (the best of both), I found reposing under a large oak tree on rusty iron chairs in the garden, having their aperitif, a little pastis and water on ice. An orchard on one side, and a lawn on the other – charmingly disorganized, the house rests full of ancient knickknacks – nothing has moved for 200 years; my heart lept for these moments of Rococo that haven’t entirely left contemporary life.

Far from American consciousness, Jasnieres has been a Touraine appellation since 1937– a handful of producers remain to cultivate delicate chenin blanc – aromas redolent of quince, pears, apples, acacia, while having a soft, silky texture and often a medium-dry finish, much like Savennieres. I first tasted the wines of Eric Nicolas years ago when they were almost inaccessible and only the geekiest if wine connoisseurs knew about them – and again, recently, at a little barbeque with some Vouvray/Montlouis producers, who blind-tasted the group on these wines, and you could feel the excitement when Bertrand Jousset (who makes fabulous Montlouis) guessed correctly the producer, grape variety and vintage. Needless to say, this winery is held in high esteem among its contemporaries and critics, especially that of my favorite wine-snob, Michel Bettane, who says that the 7 grams of residual sugar in this wine is well supported by its minerality – and gives a very respectful 16 out of 20.

Et donc, the eldest daughter of this bohemian cottage and I set foot over the rolling hills to taste at this Domain de Belliviere in the neighboring town of Lhomme. Greeted by a vast expanse of vineyards on silex and flint soils, and a lovely couple kindly invited us into their cuverie for a casual mid-summer degustation of their 06 vintage.

I chose ‘Les Rosiers,’ which comes from an average of 25-year-old vines, because of its clean cut, thanks to a pronounced acidity that greets considerable honeysuckle, apple, and earthy flavors, and a rich golden color. Depth that puts this wine on what I would deem to be the most serious side of Loire whites; the 06 the vintage produced wines with a slightly richer constitution. The aforementioned residual sugar does not create sweetness nor sappiness. Eric, the winemaker is one of those scientific geniuses and a significant character on the avant-garde wine scene – those who are painstakingly taking appellations to heights uncharted, with low yields, manual plowing and proper ripening and in this instance, ageing in a quarter percentage of new-oak barrels. And, of course, everything here is biodynamic. Not exactly a profit-machine.

Domaine de Bellieviere (Eric Nicolas) Jasnieres ‘Les Rosiers’ 2006

$29.98 per bottle. Very limited.

No sales tax for out of state shipments. Otherwise New York tax applies.

Slainte,
Mary Taylor
Thoreau Wine Society

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