Today’s podcast focuses on the grape from the Loire Valley: Chenin Blanc. I also talk about wine tasting etiquette and the poll at Winecast.net
Show Notes:
00:20 – Show Theme
oo:36 – Background on Chenin Blanc. Best wines are from France: Saumur and Savennires (dry), Anjou and Vouvray (off-dry), Coteaux du Layon and Quarts de Chaume (dessert), and Cramant de Loire (sparkling), South Africa (Steen) and California (Clarksburg and Monterey County)
02:20 – Tasting Notes
02:33 – Dry Creek Vineyards, Clarksburg, Dry Chenin Blanc 2004 ($10)
03:02 – Masbon, Vouvray 2002 ($12.50)
03:38 – Ballentine Vineyards, Napa Valley Estate, “Old Vines”, Chenin Blanc 2004 ($14)
04:20 – Best of Tasting
04:54 – Best Value
05:05 – Wine Tasting Etiquette
09:58 – Poll at Weblog
10:53 – Podcast Awards
11:09 – Contact Details
11:50 – Next Show Theme
Feedback: winecast@gmail.com
Copyright 2005 Tim Elliott. Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
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I’d like suggest that you either get help with the french pronounciations, or enlist a french speaker to say them for you.
I appreciate the disclosure of your tastes, and wonder if perhaps Chenin Blanc is not the best wine style for you to cover. I found your coverage disjointed, since you discuss the great styles of Loire Valley Chenin in the introduction, yet only taste one example.
Thanks for your comments, Paul. Your point on my pronunciation is a good one and I have to say that I butchered several words in the show you are commenting about. Other listeners have also been bothered by this in the past. I am by no means an expert on the subject and take the approach on the show that I am talking with friends and passing along a bit of information. As the show grows, however, I understand that this folksy approach will not play to everyone so I will take more care in my preproduction to research proper pronunciation and in my editing to rerecord when necessary. This might delay the release of some shows (like the next one), but it will make for a less grating experience for those of you with more experience.
My tasting notes covered in the show are not intended to be exhaustive, just an example of some wines consistent with the theme. I take care to choose wines from different continents to illustrate how different the same variety can taste, as was the case with Chenin Blanc. At some point I’ll do a regional show on the Loire and have some more similar wines to compare.
Thanks again.
Hi,
I now this pod cast is from ages ago but actually, I just discovered this series. While going trough this older series, I discovered a (very) small mistake in this chenin blanc cast.
When talking about the vouvray, you mentioned that the wine is a 100% chenin blanc although the bottle says “blanc de blanc” and by your book, the “blanc de blanc” means a blend.
Actually this is incorrect. “Blanc de blanc” means “white from white”, white wine from white grapes. Since the chenin blanc is a white grape, the “blanc de blanc lable” covers the lot.
Continuing on this, a blanc de noir wine is a white wine from red grapes etc…
Blanc de blanc and blanc de noir are quite common in the champagne region, where a blanc de blanc champagne is 100% chardonnay (the only white grape allowed in champagne blends) and blanc de noir is a pinot noir/pinot menuier blend (the other two red champagne grapes excluding the chardonnay).
Anyway. I am having a lot of fun caching up with the podcasts and enjoying them very much. Good job and good luck with it in the future.
Greetings from Belgium,
Wim
Wim,
As you will find out from some of the other episodes, I do get some points wrong and tend to pronounce French words incorrectly. I’m working on this and really appreciate your comments. Hope to hear your thoughts on other podcasts, as well.
Cheers!