Introduction to the Wines of the Loire Valley, Tuesday 13th May 2025
Tutored Tastings
Treat yourself, your family or a client to one of our exclusive tutored tastings. One of our experts will guide you through a range of wines or spirits while educating you on the evening’s topic. From style and regional focusses to cheese and wine pairings, these are unmissable chances to broaden your wine and spirits knowledge.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
This is an introductory tutorial designed for beginners to the fine wine world wishing to discover and explore the white and red wines of the Loire Valley.
The Loire is France’s longest river and is dotted with wine regions. Here, there are varying soil types, and numerous different grape varieties grown, contributing to a vinous landscape of potentially endless discovery with almost every style represented. There are the delicious dry sparkling whites of Vouvray, the powerful and complex whites of Anjou, and the crunchy and perfumed Cabernet Franc-based reds of Chinon, Bourgueil and Saumur.
As always, we will begin the evening with a brief sparkling wine apéritif and our kitchen team will prepare a selection of cheese and charcuterie with freshly baked sourdough bread, to keep you sated throughout.
Wines to be tasted:
Apéritif: 2021 Vouvray, Plaisir Ancestral, Domaine Vincent Carême
2020 Saumur Blanc, Clos David, Arnaud Lambert
2020 Savennières, Bigottière, Terra Vita Vinum
2022 Sancerre, Cuvée Marcel Henri Denise, Daniel Chotard
2023 Sancerre Rosé, La Noue, Claude Riffault
2020 Sancerre Rouge, La Noue, Claude Riffault
2022 Saumur-Champigny, Les Closiers, Domaine des Closiers
2021 Chinon, Le Clos Guillot, Bernard Baudry
2016 Saumur-Champigny, Le Bourg, Clos Rougeard
Dress code: smart casual
Event details
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