Tagged with "Loire wine tastings"

We tasted a very interesting range of wines today at La Grange aux Belles in Soulaine sur Aubance about half an hour from us here at le tasting room

Every year we have a group that comes over from the UK to the Le Mans 24 hours race. They’re all interested in cars but they love good food and wine too and a day with us makes a change of scene. Le Mans is only an hour from Le Tasting Room so it’s an ideal day out.

Well, what a month we’ve had since I last reported from the Loire valley vineyards. Huge amounts of rain during the first 2 weeks of June caused chaos around the region. On the 11th June Amboise had 80mm of rain in just 2 hours.

The most requested recipe from our guests is my caramelised onion tart. The key to this tart is patience. It takes nearly an hour for the onions to sweat down and caramelise but it’s this that gives the tart its sweet flavour so take your time. This is my own recipe that I have adapted over time.

Sweet pastry that crumbles in your mouth like shortbread. This is the pastry I use to make all our sweet tarts here at Le Tasting Room and it freezes like a dream.

Flowering is an important stage in the vineyard year. Vines further east have flowered and the fruit has set whereas here in Anjou, our vines are in full flower.

This is an unusual smoked chicken salad that can be adapted to use whatever vegetables are in season. Yesterday I used red peppers, sweet potato, aubergine, fennel, red onion and asparagus as they are all looking fantastic at the moment.

Sometimes, as you near the end of a bottle of white or rosé wine there appears to be what looks like crystals of glass or sugar in the bottom. What is it and should I be worried?

You can buy pastry in any French supermarket and I certainly don’t judge anyone for using it as it saves time, comes rolled and is ready to slide into a tin. But, it’s not quite as good as homemade. Probably because when I make my own I use rather large quantities of really good fresh butter

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 Amoricain.  

There is a lot you can gather from just looking at a wine. Tip the glass at an angle of 45°C preferably against a white background and take a look. What can you see?

Yesterday was the perfect day for the Fete du Thoureil, an annual celebration of life on the river Loire, its boats, people and traditions. Le Thoureil is our nearest riverside village and is a beautiful tranquil place that comes alive with events such as this.