This week’s press and trade tasting of Vouvray wines was held at the WSET school on Bermondsey Street. A much smaller affair than in recent years, with just 11 producers present, one hopes this isn’t a reflection on Vouvray’s popularity in the market. I have long been an advocate of Loire wines. Vouvray, with its ability to produce both sparkling and still wines, and in a range of styles from dry to sweet, is just one appellation to seek out from the vast region that is the Loire Valley. Apart from the diversity of wines, surely the value offered has to be a very attractive feature.
Vouvray is produced from Chenin Blanc, one of the main grape varieties of the Loire Valley, where it is capable of producing wines of high acidity, suitable for sparkling wine production, but also still wines of varying levels of sweetness. This grape is also credited with enabling the formation of noble rot in the right conditions, the presence of the Loire River running through the region helping to create those early morning mists essential for the formation of the fungus. The problem with this region is its northerly position, making it a marginal climate for grape-growing possibility. The river provides a moderating effect on vineyard temperatures, but cool, wet summers can dramatically affect the vintage. This accounts for a lot of very indifferent stuff coming out of the region.
It would be a pity if this wine were to fall out of fashion. As a sparkling wine it is light, fragrant and refreshing, but perhaps it really comes into its own when produced in Touraine as a still wine. This grape produces acidity in abundance and the quality of the still wines therefore depends on what the summer months deliver in terms of sunshine, in order to balance sweetness and acidity. In great vintages, the sweet, botrytised-grape versions of this wine will last for decades. Chenin Blanc does not take kindly to new oak, but extensive lees ageing does benefit its profile, helping to soften the high acidity levels and provide texture.
Perhaps it is the range of quality and style of Vouvray that confuses people, but it would be a shame if people turned their back on it altogether. As an appellation, when well made, in the right conditions, Vouvray beats many other mass-produced cheap white wines (mentioning no names).
There is still a need to produce wines for everyday drinking for a range of budgets. Vouvray must not lose its va-va-voom.