A Dry White Wine From France's Loire Valley

In one of my several visits to Baltimore I have enjoyed meals at the Thames Street Oyster House in the Fell's Point neighborhood. My wife was particularly infatuated with the place. We sat at the bar once and she ordered lobster claw after lobster claw from the iced display there. I enjoyed Muscadet wine with my seafood, and it was my introduction to the wonderful style. I owe eternal thanks to the bartender for the recommendation.

The Vignobles Lacheteau Muscadet Sèvre et Maine 2022 is a dry white wine from France's Loire Valley. Muscadet Sèvre at Maine is the appellation from which the wine comes. It is south of Nantes and is marked by two rivers, the Sèvre Nantaise and the Maine. 

The wine is made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape and is created sur lie, meaning on the lees. The lees are the yeast cells that are spent during vinification. Contact with the lees gives a wine more weight and complexity. Alcohol comes in at 12% abv and the price is quite reasonable, just $7 at Trader Joe’s.

This wine has almost no coloring. Its nose is more herb-driven than mineral-driven, but there is a touch of wet sidewalk in the aromas. The palate is dry and rather flat, with only a hint of acidity. As with the smells, the flavors lean into the herbal side of the spectrum with enough minerals to make it a decent pair with shellfish. It is a pleasant enough wine, and for $7 I will not complain beyond this paragraph. I will, however, keep it in mind for when I need a dry white wine for cooking. 

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Blood Of The Vines - A Clambake Of Queens

Pairing‌ ‌wine‌ ‌with‌ ‌movies!‌  ‌See‌ ‌the‌ ‌trailers‌ ‌and‌ ‌hear‌ ‌the‌ ‌fascinating‌ ‌commentary‌ ‌for‌ ‌these‌ ‌movies‌ ‌and‌ ‌many‌ ‌more‌ ‌at‌ ‌Trailers‌ ‌From‌ ‌Hell.‌ This week, we screen three films with the word "queen" in the title while wondering where a clambake fits in. Oh, and we have wine pairings for each film. And maybe for the clambake, too.

Let's start with the top queen in the deck, Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. There was a British sparkling wine released for her 70th anniversary on the throne. It was a 2016 vintage blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, of which Her Highness was presumably quite fond. Not that the royal public information officer was at liberty to release any such information. Let's get to the movies.

Barbarian Queen is a 1985 action-packed film from Argentina. I've seen it referenced as a classic, so it must be so. It is also hiding in some places under a different title, Queen of the Naked Steel. The one sheet for Barbarian shows off plenty of naked and plenty of steel. Roger Corman went to Argentina in the 1980s and they wouldn't let him leave until he had made ten pictures. This is one of them.

The film is a sort of female version of Conan the Barbarian. A group of women set out for vengeance against marauders who attacked on the day of a wedding in the village. There is plenty of violence involved in their revenge, both by and against the ladies. As you might guess, several of the women are subjected to sexual assault and torture. This movie may have its legion of fans, but you won't find it screening at Wokefest2024.

Australian producer Fowles has a line called Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch. This collection of styles, from Pinot Gris to Shiraz, gives a gentlemanly tip of the hat to the female hunter/gatherers from the land down under. 

1951's The African Queen pairs Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn as a boat captain and a British missionary. Their trouble-plagued trip down a river in German East Africa would make Colonel Kurtz green with envy. The film earned Bogie his one and only Academy Award. No statue for Kate? How did that happen? Oh, Vivien Leigh won it for Streetcar Named Desire. Okay, I guess I'll let it go. It still doesn't seem right, though.

The steamboat which bears the name African Queen was reportedly once owned by actor Fess Parker. Parker's name is also on a Santa Barbara County winery. How convenient. 

Fess Parker Winery makes a Syrah from Rodney's Vineyard, their main estate plot. Just a suggestion, as they offer a lengthy line of wines which capture the terroir to near perfection. 

Zsa Zsa Gabor stars in 1958's Queen of Outer Space. The film is set waaay in the future (cue the theramin and zoom the camera in and out) in 1985! Yes, the year when mankind would travel to Venus, the female planet. What a disappointment to get there and find that it is ruled by a cruel dictatrix. That's not Zsa Zsa, by the way. 

There is little to no surprise in finding out that it all works out well in the end. Zsa Zsa's character even gets a nice promotion, from beautiful tour guide to… well, I'll not spoil it for you, except to say that the tiara fits her to a T. 

Zsa Zsa reportedly taste-tested some California wines on The Tonight Show in the late 1960s, and found them to her liking. Did she single handedly catapult Napa Valley to wine world dominance with her blessing? More likely that credit goes to the Judgment of Paris, but it's nice to know that Zsa Zsa was on the right side of history. 

Hahndorf Hills Winery of Australia's Adelaide Hills region makes a Zsa Zsa Zweigelt. They say they were the first to grow the German grape in Australia, so they must know what they're doing. Do they know that Zsa Zsa was Hungarian? Who cares? How often do you get a chance to drink a Zweigelt wine?

If you are intent on having a clambake, or any sort of party-oriented meal featuring shellfish, try a Muscadet. The Loire Valley bottling is sometimes labeled as Melon de Bourgogne, even though it is not from Burgundy and has nothing to do with melons. You'll be pleased with it as a crisp accompaniment to a clambake, crabwalk, lobster party or crawfish boil. Well, actually, have a beer with the crawfish.  

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Muscadet From France's Loire Valley

The Jardin d'Edouard winery is located in Château-Thébaud, France, a short drive south of Nantes. Their website explains that vines have been cultivated on the property for well over a century. They produce a full range of wines, but are known for their three styles of Muscadet, which are aged in glass-lined tanks for anywhere from seven to 72 months. 

The Melon de Bourgogne grapes for the 2017 La Roche Aux Loups were grown in the Muscadet Sèvre et Maine area, which lies in the Loire Valley between the Sèvre Nantaise and Maine rivers. The grape is sometimes known simply as Melon. My bottle shows 12% abv and cost $22 at the French market near my home.

This white wine is five years old now and is showing some wonderful signs of its age. The fruitiness of its youth is becoming more complex and savory. Aromas of wet sidewalk, citrus and salinity come forward on the nose, while the palate is driven by minerals and earth. Muscadet wines are universally thought to be good pairings with oysters, shellfish or any sort of seafood, and this is certainly no exception. 

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Licensed To Put Wine In Cans

Licence IV is the permit in France given to cafes, restaurants, hotels, and nightclubs which allows them to serve alcohol.  There is no wonder that the sign is a welcome sight - it means refreshment, relaxation, fun and friends are inside.

This wine takes its name - and logo - from those signs.  It is a Muscadet wine, made entirely of Melon de Bourgogne grapes from the Loire Valley, fermented in stainless steel and aged on its lees in concrete tanks.  It is available in 1-liter bottles or the four-pack of lightweight cans, 250ml each.

This canned wine pours up with a nice straw-yellow appearance in the glass.  The nose is mineral-driven, with traces of peach and apricot in the whiff.  The palate also brings the minerality, with great citrus notes and an acidity that is really fresh.  It is an easy-to-sip wine, but it will pair nicely with any kind of salad or seafood dish.

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Wine With Crabcakes

Jean-Pascal Aubron makes delicious white wines in France's Loire Valley.  His family has been doing that since the 19th century.  The winery is located outside of Nantes, near the Atlantic coast in the Muscadet-Sevre et Maine appellation.  In that region, up to five grams of residual sugar is allowed in the wines, but Aubron produces a bone-dry wine with none at all.

The grapes used for the Domaine Jean Aubron Cuvee Elegance Muscadet are the Melon de Bourgogne variety, fermented in glass-lined concrete and steel tanks and aged there for eight months on the lees.  Alcohol is restrained at 12% abv.

I had this amazing white wine at a seafood place in Baltimore's Fells Point area, the Thames Street Oyster House.  The bartender gave it high marks, and he was right.  It's loaded with minerals and a briny salinity, and was an excellent pair with a  tuna salad, lobster claws and a crab cake.

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