Langlois-Chateau, Loire Valley wines

Posted by winesleuth in Food and Wine, France, restaurants, Sparkling Wine | 2 comments

It may seem like I only drink champagne but that’s not true. Sometimes I drink sparkling wine, too.

All kidding aside, I do enjoy a good sparkling wine and some of my favourites are cremants.  A cremant is a French sparkling wine that does not come from the Champagne region. It’s as simple as that. So for example, you can have a Cremant de Bourgogne, Cremant de Alsace, or as in this particular post, a Cremant de Loire. In each case, the sparkling wine is made from grapes that are grown locally and usually produced in the traditional method but not always.

I met up with the the wine maker for Loire Valley producer, Langlois-Chateau, Francois-Regis de Fougeroux recently  for lunch at Cigalon on Chancery Lane. Francois-Regis brought along  his sparkling wines as well as a few red wines for us to have with lunch. The white sparkling was composed of chenin blanc, chardonnay and cabernet franc and the rose sparkling was 100% cabernet franc.

Langlois-Chateau is owned by Bollinger and benefits from the experience and expertise that the Champagne house brings to the table. They are the only house that buys grapes and then vinifies them separately as opposed to other producers in the Loire who buy the “must” and make their sparkling wines from there.

They also use the “traditional method” with the wines spending at least 2 years in the cellar before being released. All of this results in sparkling wines that have much in common with champagne. The brut sparkling wine had very fine bubbles with good balance and citrus fruit flavours, a great aperitif. I really enjoyed the rosé, an aromatic and fruity nose followed on by loads of strawberries and raspberries on the palate, very fresh and morish. Francois-Regis calls this his “swimming pool” wine, perfect for lounging on a hot (well, here in England the most we can hope for is a warm) summers day. Another plus in choosing cremant de Loire’s is the price tag. Both the brut and rosé retail for £14, a bargain for such well made and delicious sparklers.

Langlois-Chateau also make still red wines from the cabernet franc grape and Francois-Regis brought along two, the 2011 Domaine Langlois-Chateau and a 2005 Vielles Vignes. Cabernet franc can be a misunderstood grape but Langlois-Chateau’s cab franc is a best seller in Paris and after tasting it, I can see why – a medium bodied wine with juicy red fruits and savoury, graphite notes to it. Delicious by the glass or do as I did and have it with garlicky escargot (retail £10).

The Vielles Vignes was another delicious surprise, perfectly balanced, round tannins and good acidity with none of the stalky, green flavours and aromas that one sometimes gets from unripe cabernet franc. I had this with a hunk of venison and the gamey flavours of the dish went well with the toasty, black fruit flavours of the Vielles Vignes (retail £18).

If you’re not familiar with the wines of the Loire, both still and sparkling, the wines of Chateau-Langlois are a good introduction.