Take a trip down the bosky Loire this spring. There’s not another wine region in the world that can put a spring in your step like it, whether your taste is for fresh, perky whites, zingy reds, stylish sparklers or seductive stickies and rosés. You could spend a lifetime meandering along this 620-mile river region in northern France, with its multitude of different soils and microclimates, and still not get bored.
Lots of us have already fallen for the Loire’s inexpensive floral, fruity charms; and in the past decade exports are up almost 50 per cent in volume. Part of the Loire’s new-found popularity has been a stylistic sea change with growers realising that yesteryear’s tart, skinny whites and dank, green ivy-scented reds are not what we want to drink. What the Loire cannot escape, however, is climate change, with early bud break and late spring frosts a permanent problem.
For now, tuck into the tasty 2019 and 2020 vintages before the lacklustre 2021s arrive. The Loire is France’s leading white wine producer, so start your journey at the Atlantic-battered mouth with muscadet, made from melon de bourgogne — an old burgundy grape that, curiously, in the right hands and granite, schist and gneiss soil displays some of the nutty, verdant minerality you would expect from a great chablis. Yapp Brothers has long specialised in Loire wines and its 2020 Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine (yapp.co.uk, £11.25), made from 25-year-old vines and aged on its enriching yeasty lees, is a vibrant, preserved-lemon hit.
Moving east into Anjou-Saumur, the latter’s sandy-soil patch is home to my favourite sprightly spring red, made from the zingy cabernet franc grape. Take your pick from the Co-op’s velvety, raspberry-tangy 2019 Domaine des Ormes Saumur Rouge (Co-op, £8.50) or trade up to the Filliatreau family’s 50 to 100-year-old vine edition (see star buys, below). Further east is Chinon, with the 2020 Domaine de la Noblaie Le Temps des Cerises, a black cherry and forest-fruited joy (thewinesociety.com, £11.50). A hop northeast and you are in Vouvray’s chalky tuffeau, where even the 2019 Specially Selected Vouvray (Aldi, £6.49) delivers soft, honeyed orchard fruit at a bargain price.
Loire stars
Prince Alexandre Crémant de Loire Brut, France
12.5 per cent, Waitrose, £12.99
Glorious, golden champagne-method bubbly, with lashings of light, waxy, frothy, yellow apple fruit.
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2020 Pouilly-Fumé Jean-Jacques Bardin, France
14.5 per cent, Co-op, £14
Forget sancerre, pouilly-fumé is better value and this elegant 2020 is a savoury, green bean gem.
2020 Saumur Blanc, Les Plantagenêts, France
12.5 per cent, thewinesociety.com, £8.25
Terrific, lively, grapey, buttery lemon meringue pie of a chenin blanc with a crisp, punchy, lemon zest finish.
2017 Domaine Filliatreau Saumur Champigny, France
13.5 per cent, yapp.co.uk, £21
Nab the Filliatreaus’ delicious, herby, redcurrant and raspberry-stashed old-vine saumur. It’s a cracker.
This week’s top supermarket buys
2020 The Best Trentino Pinot Grigio, Italy
12.5 per cent, Morrisons, £7
With an enriching splash of chardonnay, this refreshing, leafy, stainless steel-aged pinot grigio gets my thumbs-up.
2020 Castellore Negroamaro Primitivo, Italy
14 per cent, Aldi, £5.99
Canny negroamaro blend from Puglia, pumped up with primitivo, all sweet red-plum jam fruit, plus a firm finish.
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2020 Howard Park Miamup Chardonnay, Australia
13.5 per cent, Waitrose, £9.99 (down from £13.99)
Classy Margaret River chardonnay with bright, red apple oomph, fermented in oak barrels.
2018 Ravenswood Lodi Zinfandel, California
14.5 per cent, Tesco, £12 (down from £14)
Joel Peterson’s cut-price 2018, with masses of bramble fruit, makes a great cold-day red.
