We have a really soft spot for the appellation of Savennières. Home to fine white Chenin Blanc wines, full of character and minerality from impossibly shallow top soils sitting above the schist and slate of the Massif Armoricain.
Last night we opened a bottle of L’Enthousiasme 2014 from Domaine Ogereau. Tiny quantities of this wine were made by Emmanuel Ogereau and it’s a lovely wine. It comes from a parcel called Le Clos Grandpréau and the grapes for this particular wine are planted upon a vein of sandstone that makes up part of the vineyard’s terroir.
Discreet and delicately floral on the nose, it has notes of preserved lemon and plums on the palate and then opens up to reveal a big wine with power and structure. At 14% alcohol it packs quite a punch although this is not unusual for the wines of Savennières that must be hand picked and in at least 2 passes through the vineyard. With good exposure and full maturity, the wines of Savennières are often higher in alcohol than other white wines of the Loire.
A bit of a midweek treat for us we served it with a creamy seafood ragout (mussels, prawns, squid) cooked with white wine, cream, flat leaf parsley and garlic.
