It’s been three years since the trusty Le Mans Gang came down for their annual Loire Wine Discovery day.
Needless to say there was a lot to catch up on. Three harvests, 2 years of Covid, frosts, hailstorms, drought and then of course, all the personal stories.
It’s always a great day and this year felt particularly special as we hadn’t seen each other for such a long time.
The Le Mans Gangs are first and foremost interested in cars. But, they love to eat and enjoy a glass of wine too.
The day always starts with coffee and home made cake followed by a vintage update and tutored tasting of 6 wines from the region.
This year we showed Granite 2019 from Domaine de L’Ecu, Vouvray 2018 from Domaine d’Orfeuilles, Eloquence 2020 Touraine Oisly from Vignoble Dubreuil, Lionel Gosseaume’s 2020 Touraine Rosé, Pinot Noir Menetou-Salon from Domaine Remoortere, Postumus St Nicolas de Bourgueil 2018 and last but not least, for the pre lunch aperitif, a magnum of fizz from our friends at La Table Rouge in our village of Noizay.
Home made hummus and gougères accompanied the fizz before we moved onto lunch. A caramelised onion tart with salad from the garden to start, Persian chicken thighs with Greek yoghurt and dill, quinoa salad with a spicy Aisian dressing and loads of fresh parsley and coriander, a carpaccio of heritage tomatoes with a ginger, spring onion and chilli salsa and of course plenty of crusty bread.
A cheeseboard followed containing a mystery cheese that we snuck on for fun. Bellavitano from Plymouth Wisconsin had them completely fooled although one of the Gang correctly guessed the coffee grinds on the outside!
For dessert I prepared a Limoncello and strawberry tiramisu, dark chocolate mousse with caramel au beurre salé and a hazlenut and apricot tart.
With the onion tart we enjoyed a spicy 2021 Grolleau from Chateau de Montdomaine and alongside the main we served a magnum of Chateau de Minière’s 100 year old vine Cabernet Franc 2009, Vignes Centenaires. A moelleux Vouvray from Vignoble Alain Robert was the perfect match with dessert.
All in all, it was a fabulous day.
