Vouvray Three Ways
by Dustin Soiseth
Vouvray Brut “La Dilettante”
France | Loire
The standard that Catherine Breton and her son Paul hold their Vouvray Brut to is not other Loire sparkling wines, but Champagne. A blend of multiple vintages, their Vouvray, with its tight bead, toasty aromas, and delicious limestone bite, is more reminiscent of a Côtes des Blancs than the typical crémant, but luckily for us, the price is still solidly Loire.
2024 Vouvray
France | Loire
This is one of those wines that if you popped the cork and poured yourself a glass while cooking, there’s a pretty good chance it would be mostly gone by the time dinner was ready. It goes down so effortlessly because of the exquisite purity that Champalou’s Vouvrays possess. This is Vouvray sec of the cold mountain stream persuasion—bracing, with a clean finish.
2024 Vouvray “Les Fondraux”
France | Loire
Does this wine have some sweetness? Yes. Is this a sweet wine? Absolutely not. The sweetness—more like a honeyed roundness—is at the front of each sip, then whisked away by the same brisk finish as their Vouvray sec. This is no accident. Walking a razor’s edge between sec and demi-sec, Céline Champalou obsessively monitors the fermentation and stops it when the balance between lusciousness and verve is just right.