Second editionAccord Tannique in one of the most beautiful hotels in Toulouse, I have appointed The Court of Consuls. For the occasion, I have the pleasure of being accompanied by jazz pianist Étienne Manchon. I propose a tasting of 4 exceptional wines. Participants were able to discover the subtleties of the Music & Wine agreements.
Selection of 4 great Loire wines
- Jacky Blot– Triple Zero – AOP Montlouis – not vintage
- Domaine Grange Tiphaine – Les Epinays – AOP Montlouis – 2016
- ECU area – Mephisto – AOP Muscadet – 2020
- Château Soucherie – Coteaux du Layon – 1st Cru Chaume – 2018
Musical chords by jazz pianist Étienne Manchon
A pianist, accompanist, a brat and a composer, Étienne Manchon is an all-terrain pianist. For this special evening, I told him about the wine style, I gave him qualifiers and as much information as possible, and he transcribed this information into music.
Back in image of the evening
The tasting sheets of the Soenologist
Theme: The Loire, an exciting vineyard, and an iconic grape variety: the Chenin
– the longer French river, and its vineyard extends over nearly 14 departments, or about 700 kms long, making the Loire Valley one of the largest wine-producing regions in France.
– 57,000 HA : 3rd largest wine-producing region AOC in FR (a mastodont)
Wine 1 – A champagne that's not a champagne! A reference for connoisseurs
Area : Domaine de la Taille aux Loups – Jacky Blot
Name: Val de Loire (Montlouis, Vouvray)
Terror : Calcareous cuts
He is probably the best-known winemaker in Touraine. He put his bottles on the tables of the biggest star restaurants. A former broker converted into the vineyard. Died in May 2023... Very difficult to get its precious bottles!
Grape(s): 100% Chenin
Cuvée: Triple Zero
Vintage: Not vintage
Service: between 8 and 10°
Carafage: 30 minutes before
Alcohol: 13%
Description : Triple Zero is a natural sparkling, delicious and rich in grilled flavours and shades of yellow fruits. It is a remarkable example of the know-how of Jacky Blot, a famous winemaker who attaches great importance to the terroir.
Triple Zero = 0 Chaptalization, 0 Drawing Liqueur, 0 Shipping Liqueur
It's the ancestor of « pet-nat » so popular today. 30 years ago, we thought he was crazy!
Nose : White flowers, white fruits, sharp acidity
Tasting : Its purity is incomparable, with delicate bubbles and refreshing aromas of white flowers and white fruits. It is the perfect sparkling appetizer.
Food & Wine Agreement : ALL
Music & Wine Agreement : Festive, sparkling, comforting, joyful, effervescence, precision
Wine #2 – Le Chenin, a versatile grape variety
Area : Tiphaine Barn
Definitely a ligerian rising star. The wines of the Grange Tiphaine reveal a purity and elegance of the most appreciable, always in the register of subtlety.
A love of music (as the names of the Cuvées Clef de Sol et Bécarre show)
Name: Montlouis (15km from the previous estate)
Terror : typical clay soil with large flint, resting on the famous tuffeau, this soft limestone that is so well suited to the chenin.
Grape(s): 100% Chenin
Cuvée: The Epinays
Vintage: 2016
Service: 10°
Carafage: 1h
Alcohol: 14,5%
Description : Unfortunately, here, as elsewhere in Montlouis, the April 2016 frost considerably limited the harvest. In the end, they got a yield of just 3 hectolitres per hectare! If the quantity was very small, the quality was clearly at the rendezvous, the beautiful end of summer having enabled the chenin, harvested by successive sortings between 5 and 10 October, to achieve a superb sugar-acid balance.
Dress : Gold
Nose : charming bouquet, elegant, with notes of white flowers and mimosa, and resolutely mineral. If the fruit shines on notes of apple, pear skin, Queen-Claude and even fresh apricot, it seems covered with a kind of chalky veil, subtly spicy, refined evocation of the tuffeau basement.
Mouth : In the mouth, the balance is immediate: the touch is silky, delicate, the matter is fluid. The ripe fruit is accompanied by an elegant minerality, emphasized by beautiful bitters evoking grapefruit zest, which lengthen and refresh the wine. A flawless one for this new Montlouis, with the obvious aging capacity: 10 years in the cellar certainly do not scare him! A must.
Music & Wine Agreement : Balance, acidity, minerality, limestone, evoking rock, gel of 2016, charming and elegant wine. Complex
Wine No. 3: We are looking for aromatic purity
Area : Ecu estate – winemaker Fred Niger. One of the greatest references of the Nantais vineyard! Avant-garde biodynamic.
Name: Muscadet
Terror : Granitic
Grape(s): 100% Cabernet Franc
Cuvée: Mephisto
Vintage: 2020
Service: 16-18°
Carafage: 2H before
Alcohol: 11,5%
Description : Livestock: old barrels and amphorae for 15 months.
Amphora, symbol of a non-interventionist philosophy: Vinifying in amphoras is not an end in itself but is the result of a global approach related to Biodynamics and allows to propose cuvées without any added oenological input or SO2 (some vintages can be added 1 or 2 grams to the bet if necessary). Vinifying in amphorae requires a lot of work, monitoring and delicate manipulations but provides many advantages. The natural origin of clay and the neutrality of terracotta respects the purity of the fruit and the expression of the terroir. Thermal regulation, the natural circulation of the lees favour the complexity of the wines. The amphore is perhaps finally and simply symptomatic of a non-interventionist philosophy in winemaking and of the desire not to make up wines.
Dress : Garnet ribbon
Nose : Nose full, slightly funky, flattering, round, expressive, on black fruits and small red fruits, ripe, strawberry, currant, notes of white pepper. Vegetable touch and a peppery side.
Mouth : Suave attack, middle mouth tense but charming, tannins still tight but velvety, nice volume, rich, deep, delicate, chiseled fruit, sweet spices notes.
Music & Wine Agreement : Funky, powerful, rich and deep. Original wine, nature, plant. Paradoxal!
Wine 4 – To finish smoothly, a little sugar, and we go back to Chenin
Area : Château Soucherie
Name: Coteaux du Layon – 1st Cru Chaume
Terror : Schist
Grape(s): 100% Chenin
Cuvée: Hot 1st Cru
Vintage: 2018
Service: 10°
Carafage: 2H
Alcohol: 12 % alc, 140 g/l residual sugars.
Description : Mysterious and charming / Botrytis
Dress : straw gold yellow
Nose : A nose confits without any heaviness, precise with a beautiful botrytis. The nose is expressed on notes of pineapple, marmalade of orange, maracuja, mango, vanilla and tatin apple.
Mouth : turns out to be ample and rich but without excess. A beautiful expression of sweetness with a very beautiful energy. This allows him to manage a formidable concentration with incredible tactile finesse.
Music & Wine Agreement : Charmer, liquid, acid/sugar balance, exotic, noble rot.
