Comments on: WBW #24: Loire Whites http://winexpression.com/2006/08/02/wbw-24-loire-whites/ Ratings, News, and more on Wine & Spirits since August 2003 Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:35:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: jatemack http://winexpression.com/2006/08/02/wbw-24-loire-whites/#comment-2933 jatemack Tue, 08 Aug 2006 15:57:27 +0000 http://winexpression.com/2006/08/02/wbw-24-loire-whites/#comment-2933 Thanks for your comments. Obviously, I am somewhat unfamiliar with French wines and the naming system, although it is of interest to me. So now I know, anytime a wine is labeled Vouvray, (or Montlouis, Savennières, or Coulée de Serrant) it is chenin. Merci! Thanks for your comments. Obviously, I am somewhat unfamiliar with French wines and the naming system, although it is of interest to me. So now I know, anytime a wine is labeled Vouvray, (or Montlouis, Savennières, or Coulée de Serrant) it is chenin. Merci!

]]> By: hervé LALAU http://winexpression.com/2006/08/02/wbw-24-loire-whites/#comment-2927 hervé LALAU Sat, 05 Aug 2006 19:25:17 +0000 http://winexpression.com/2006/08/02/wbw-24-loire-whites/#comment-2927 You complain that French bottles do not indicate the grapes used; it is only true for AOC wines, and the reason is obvious (although you may not agree with it): in the French AOC system, the terroir is more important than the grape, and the French leave these mentions to the vins de pays. The idea is that if you put the cépage (varietal) name on a label, people will compare it with other wines bearing the same varietal name, forgetting the origin. Mind you, a lor of French producers (especially exporters) regreat that they cannot use the name of the grapes, all the more so as their competitors from abroad can, and mostly do with French grape-names! Anyway, Vouvray, Montlouis or Savennières (not to mention Coulée de Serrant) are much sexier names that chenin blanc. By the way, only foreigners add "blanc" to chenin or sauvignon, because any normal French wine drinker knows that chenin or sauvignon are white grapes. You complain that French bottles do not indicate the grapes used; it is only true for AOC wines, and the reason is obvious (although you may not agree with it): in the French AOC system, the terroir is more important than the grape, and the French leave these mentions to the vins de pays.
The idea is that if you put the cépage (varietal) name on a label, people will compare it with other wines bearing the same varietal name, forgetting the origin. Mind you, a lor of French producers (especially exporters) regreat that they cannot use the name of the grapes, all the more so as their competitors from abroad can, and mostly do with French grape-names!

Anyway, Vouvray, Montlouis or Savennières (not to mention Coulée de Serrant) are much sexier names that chenin blanc. By the way, only foreigners add “blanc” to chenin or sauvignon, because any normal French wine drinker knows that chenin or sauvignon are white grapes.

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