Located on southern facing slopes of the river Cher in the heart of the Touraine district (southeast and about 20km from Tours) where Vincent Ricard farms approximately 17 hectares of vineyard planted largely to Sauvignon Blanc, along with small parcels of Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Gamay and Cot (Malbec).

Clos de Vauriou is a single vineyard planted to organically farmed Gamay, which is hand-harvested and de-stemmed, to produce this plump wine.

Bright acidity and a pleasant leafy undercurrent on the finish balance primary, plumy aromatics and a lush texture. Excellent with roasted root vegetables, coq au vin, or smoked meats.

Regional History
The Loire River runs 635 miles from the Cévennes Mountains in southeastern France to the Atlantic Coast and flows through (or near) over 60 different appellations. During its long history, the hillsides along the banks provided well – drained soils on which to grow grapes, and the river itself provided a transportation network to outside markets.

The village of Thésée on the banks of the River Cher (a small tributary of the Loire) is sprinkled with troglodytic dwellings carved into the hillsides. Wines from this village qualify for Appellation Touraine, a broad expanse of land that covers much of the vineyards East of Tours.

Regional Foods
The lower half of the Loire River, the longest in France, runs through more than forty wine appellations, among them Sancerre, Pouilly-Fume, Touraine, Vouvray, Chinon, Saumur, Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, and Muscadet. This broad valley, noted for its big skies and big chateaux, doesn’t boast an indigenous cuisine. Nevertheless, the rich soil and the varied landscape provide a bounty of raw materials for a cook.

Diverse livestock are raised on local farms; the Atlantic coast and the river itself supply plentiful fish; vegetables and grains are harvested from the large, well-tended kitchen gardens seen everywhere. So one drinks Muscadet with Atlantic oysters and pike au beurre blanc, Vouvray with friture de la loire (fried freshwater fish) or pork rillettes. Rillons, little fists of pork belly, might be enjoyed with a glass of Montlouis.

The reds of Chinon and Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil often accompany jugged hare, pork with prunes or venison. Reds from Touraine with chickens, and “steak frittes.” Restaurants offer baked cod, escargot, frog’s legs and freshwater fish pate with Pouilly-Fume.

© Moore Brothers Wine Company

Ménetou-Salon Cuvée le Charnay Jean-Max Roger
Here’s a shimmering, elegant Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc that I’ve drunk at least twice a month since it arrived here a year ago.

Last Friday at home, alongside a buttery  crusted fillet of halibut with parslied new potatoes and wild rice,  this wine was perfect: sapid and vibrant, and a textbook example of a beautifully evolved wine at its peak. On Sunday I bought a case, of which eleven bottles remain (I couldn’t resist). But I plan on one or two at least, for a picnic of  Monterey Chèvre,  New Canaan tomatoes, and a baguette from  Rubiner’s,  with Beethoven and Mendelssohn on the lawn at Tanglewood later this summer.

Jean-Max Roger:
The Rogers have been winegrowers in Bué, a tiny hamlet outside of Sancerre, since the early seventeenth century. Jean-Max Roger inherited four hectares of Sancerre vineyards in 1970, to which he has added another twenty, along with five hectares in nearby Ménetou-Salon.

Like his cousin and neighbor Dominique Roger, Jean-Max combines a deeply felt respect for tradition with a willingness to apply sensible innovative methods. His neighbors in Bué thought he was crazy when he abandoned chemical herbicides in 1990, and planted grass between alternate rows of vines.

If you visit his compact winery in the heart of the village of Bué, he probably won’t be there (even if you made an appointment). He’s much more likely to have forgotten the time, and to be out among the vines.

This wine:
This pale yellow wine has beautiful white peach, pink grapefruit, and fennel in the nose, along with a suggestion of cassis and walnut. On the palate there is nectarine, citrus zest, fennel, and flinty minerality, with lots of dry extract: what Klaus Peter Keller calls “inner density.” The finish goes on and on.

As always at Moore Brothers, we selected this lovely wine in a direct, personal relationship with the grower. It was shipped and delivered to us in refrigerated containers, and over the past year it has ripened beautifully in our perfect, temperature-controlled facilities. It won’t taste better, even if you drink it in the lovely old tasting room at the winery in Bué, with Thibault or Etiènne Roger filling in for their father.

I thank you again for your continued support of family farms, and for your participation in the stewardship of these special traditions.

Greg Moore