We continue to wind down our time in the Loire with another outstanding wine worth purchase.  Yesterday highlighted a fabulous cab franc. Tonight, we open a Chenin Blanc bought from the Maison des Vins de Loire.

Heavy rains and my wife’s emerging flu keep us in our cosy, colorful basement.  So, I create an advanced wine-chiller and put it outside:

Genius!

We pack for a bit, excited about our next move to Bordeaux.  After an hour, I pop outside.  The neighbor cat observes me.

Just a bit up-river from our stay in Nantes is the wide region of Anjou.

Château Pierre-Bise (Stone-Wind) makes a white from Chenin Blanc called Le Haut de la Garde.  2009 was particularly warm here, especially thanks to the protecting Vendée woods.  Thus alcohol hits 14.5%

APPEARANCE: Color intensity is mild, but some intentional rot (botrytis) made it amber gold, bright, and glass-filling.  The alcohol thickened the legs.

AROMAS: It smells seductive and mature, with huge, ripe pineapple, vanilla, and a year of old oak.

PALATE: It feels pure, dry, and racing with acidity.  That 14.5% alcohol provides viscosity to the texture and a medium body.

FLAVORS: Intense dark honey drizzled on a ripe honeydew melon, vanilla bean, slight salt and wax flavors cling to the palate for a long long while.

CONCLUSIONS: Pierre-Bise’s Le Haut de la Garde is very, very good, hell, outstanding wine (5 of 5). So, forget Anjou’s sweet, limp rosés, and drink this fab Chenin Blanc.

Check back tomorrow (Wednesday) for our last sip of what the Loire has to offer!