Saturday was Open That Bottle Night, the night when you're supposed to open the bottle of wine you've been saving for a "special occasion," but of course, the right occasion never happens so you might as well make up an occasion, hence Open That Bottle Night. (By the way, this special evening is the brainchild of Wall Street Journal wine writers Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, smart people who believe in enjoying wine, not hoarding it.)
We opened the Champalou 2006 Vouvray La Cuvée de Fondraux, an off-dry Chenin Blanc from the Loire region of France (one of my favorite wine regions -- I heart Cab Franc and I heart Chenin and I heart the pricepoints of Loire wines). This particular bottle was a 30th birthday gift from a fellow wine pubber; she told me it was one of her favorites.
She has good taste.
We're talking aromas of stone fruit -- peaches, apricots -- and a hint of honey and some white flowers. The peach appears again on the palate and then is followed by a wonderful minerally finish -- like wet stone. (Yes, I know -- it sounds lame. As if anyone would go out and lick a wet stone. But just pretend you are going to do this -- for those of you in Northern California, where the rain has no end, this will not be hard to imagine. The resulting taste -- that flintiness -- is what the finish of this wine is like.)
On Saturday, we drank it with carrot cupcakes from Sift. But we didn't finish the bottle -- it had been a long day of eating and drinking, which wore us out.
So we finished the rest of the Vouvray tonight. And it was still lovely and delicious. And it tasted just fine with bangers and mash.
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