Awards and citations:


1997: Le Prix du Champagne Lanson Noble Cuvée Award for investigations into Champagne for the Millennium investment scams

2001: Le Prix Champagne Lanson Ivory Award for investdrinks.org

2011: Vindic d'Or MMXI – 'Meilleur blog anti-1855'

2011: Robert M. Parker, Jnr: ‘This blogger...’:

2012: Born Digital Wine Awards: No Pay No Jay – best investigative wine story

2012: International Wine Challenge – Personality of the Year Award




Wednesday 1 November 2017

Stone, Vine & Sun: Loire wines


2016 Sauvignon, IGP Val de Loire, 
Domaine des Forges £9.75


Today I went to the Stone, Vine & Sun autumn tasting at the Middle Temple, home of many barristers offices. There were 53 wines to taste and there was an impressively high hit rate – a lot of characterful wines and thankfully not at silly prices. 

The tasting started with three Sauvignon Blancs – two from the Loire and one from South Africa. Of the two from the Loire I much preferred the grassy, clean and fresh IGP example (£9.75) from Domaine des Forges. In contrast the Pouilly-Fumé (£14.95) had a light grapefruit character, was rather lean and dilute. Perhaps the Pouilly-Fumé will take on a little more weight in bottle but at present the IGP offers much better value.

2015 Les Pernets, Pouilly-Fumé, Francis Blanchet

2014 Savennières, Clos de Coulaine, Château Pierre-Bise
£17.95 

Although this 2014 Savennières has attractive power, concentration and considerable balance, it is quite tight in the finish at the moment. It may well come out of this stage in time. Alternatively if wanting to serve it now it would make sense to decant it a couple of hours in advance.   

2015 Coteaux du Layon 1er Cru Chaume, 
Les Onnis, Domaine des Forges £21.95

This is a very delicate Chaume with a touch of apricot and honey with good length. I think it would work best as an apéritif or with cheese but likely to difficult to pair with most desserts except for some summer red fruits. Although attractively delicate for a 1er Cru I might have expected a little more concentration.      

3 comments:

Bob Rossi said...

Glad to see you review some wines from Domaine des Forges. We visited them a few years ago, and only did so because we had a couple of their wines at a wine bar in Bordeaux, and they suggested we visit when we were in the area (which happened later in our trip). The woman at Domaine des Forges poured us about a dozen wines, and we were generally impressed. I believe we still have a bottle of their Quarts de Chaume, which we brought home with us.

Jim's Loire said...

Thanks Bob. Have long been am admirer of the wines from Domaine des Forges.

Bob Rossi said...

Definitely easier for you to get their wines.