Organic wine match of the day: Chidaine Montlouis & wild mushroom pie

There’s a white, chalky flintiness everywhere in Montlouis, a long under-appreciated region in France located across the Loire River from the Vouvray AC; the latter better known around the world for its soft, flowery fresh, demi-sec (“off-dry”) styles of whites made from the Chenin Blanc grape.

Montlouis is also planted exclusively to Chenin Blanc; but because its best whites are probably its dryer ones, flinty or chalky sensations seem more pronounced in Montlouis; the understanding of which doesn’t require much of a leap after you see its whitish soils, which consist of almost no clay, but rather a predominance of silex (finely ground flint), sand and limestone.

Not to say that each sip of the 2006 Francois Chidaine Montlouis Clos du Breuil (about $23) tastes like wet rocks.  Stony terroir is a subtle undertone in this wine, which exudes more of a succulent, melony fruitiness in the nose, tinged with a wildflower honey, a whiff of bread yeast, and even tropical suggestions (like caramelized banana).  On the palate, the honeyed fruit sensations mesh with a pointedly green apple tartness in a medium-full body, and the wine finishes as dry as, well, rocks.

If you take the trouble to seek out and appreciate this wine, you might go further and taste more of Chidaine’s cuvées (he bottles several each year, the Clos du Breuil from one of his oldest plots, and usually among the driest); illustrating what many connoisseurs believe to be as compelling a testament to the link between low-intervention, biodynamic winemaking and purest possible expression of grape and terroir as you can find anywhere in the world.  Most certainly, the naturally perfumed character of the Chenin Blanc and the lime crusted quality of the soil contribute to that.

When matching food with such unique wines, I like to highlight the attributes, which also rounds them out.  Because of the tartness, for instance, slightly sharp, earthy cheeses like fetas and chèvres make sense, smoothing out the wine’s sharper edges.  If you choose a smoked chèvre, the smokiness plays up the wine’s flinty, minerally qualities, and you begin to better appreciate the complexity of good Montlouis (combining chèvre with, say, smoked salmon or wood grilled oysters would achieve the same effect).

When it comes to dishes:  yes, saline flavored foods that like tart edged whites (oysters, crab, bouillabaisse, etc.) make sense.  Or, you could emphasize both the flinty and fruity qualities of the Montlouis by this recipe for a wild mushroom pie; teeming with aromas of woodsy earth, while a creamy béchamel underlines the luscious, tropical notes of the wine.

WINE BASICS #22:  Tulip vs. “Burgundy” shaped red wine glasses

Although elongated tulip shapes at least 16 ounce in size do well for most reds, a lot of red wine lovers go even further, preferring round, bowl shaped glasses (the classic “Burgundy” shape, especially preferred for wines made from Pinot Noir), which tend to have even larger surface areas for vapors to work off of.  What the bowl shape also does is allow red wine to enter the palate closer to the tip of the tongue (as opposed to the center), and it’s at the tip of the tongue where most of your taste buds sensitive to sensations of sweetness are located.  So with bowl shapes, your red wines end up tasting softer and fruitier; especially good if you’re drinking more expensive, heavy red wines that are loaded down with hard, even bitter, tannins. 

The idea is to be able to taste a big red’s fruitiness before its tannins.  Riedel was a pioneer of many of these variations of crystal quality wine glasses, priced retail anywhere from $10 to $75 per stem; other prestige quality, albeit less costly, brands of wine glasses include Spiegelau, Ravenscroft, and Schott Zwiesel. 

There are plenty of other good sized, economically priced alternatives available online and in many kitchen supply stores.  The bottom line:  life's too short to drink from lousy wine glasses!