A cool red for fish or meat
THERE are times, especially in summer, when your customers might be looking for a red wine which is light enough to go with poultry or even fish, and which is easy to drink and thirst-quenching.
It's not unusual to find a couple, one of whom is eating fish and the other red meat and yet who want to share a bottle. My solution to this problem is usually a young Beaujolais, served chilled, which does the job nicely.
The answer really lies in the grape, Gamay, and the method of fermentation, carbonic maceration, both of which are characteristic of Beaujolais but are not confined to the region.
Anyone who has drunk Beaujolais knows the upfront Gamay grape with its raw fruit qualities and will have experienced the softening effects of carbonic maceration.
Bunches of grapes are fermented while still uncrushed in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks under a layer of carbon dioxide. Fermentation accordingly takes place inside the whole grape and not under the combined influence of oxygen, ambient temperature and grape skins. The result is a short-lived wine relatively low in alcohol, peppery and aromatic, light in tannins and light in colour with a pleasing fruit. It should be drunk cool.
The central stretch of the Loire valley, west of Tours, is famous for the wines of Chinon, Bourgeuil and St-Nicholas-de-Bourgeuil which are made from Cabernet Franc and some Cabernet Sauvignon. But Gamay is grown there too.
And this brings me to a special recommendation this week for summer drinking, a Gamay de Touraine made by Henry Marionnet, Domaine de la Charmoise. It is just the ticket for a warm day. The wine is a garnet colour and pleasantly dry. A delicate scent of fresh redcurrants is confirmed on the palate. There is not a hint of mature fruit anywhere. Properly cooled the wine will disappear in no time. It is shipped by Bibendum (071-722 5577) and is going down well this summer in, among other establishments: the George of Stamford in Lincolnshire and the Brackenbury and Escargot restaurants in London. The trade case price is £61.
Matching Whites
Sauvignon de Touraine is forever associated in my mind with goat's cheese. Driving through this part ofthe Loire you find farms sellingchävre every few kilometres and caves offering the local wine at similar intervals.
If you happen to have a baguette to hand, the best meal in the world - a bottle of Sauvignon, fresh and yet discrete, and a little round of creamy white cheese, meaty in the way of goat, yet with an acidity which strikes a perfect resonance with the acidity of the wine - is within your grasp.
If I had my own restaurant orpub I would offer fresh bread, goat's cheese and a glass of Sauvignonde Touraine as a package, a bar snack or an aperitif, a cheese course or a meal in itself.
And where better to start when looking for a Sauvignon de Touraine than Henry Marrionnet's Domaine de la Charmoise. This is a fruity, accessible Sauvignon without the rollicking, hay-field bonhomie of the NewWorld nor yet the austere and flinty austerity (and high premium) of Pouilly Fumé and Sancerre. Like the Gamay, it has a trade price of £61 from Bibendum.
Language Lessons
Though brand names may be the invention of marketing men, most grape varieties go back furtherthan modern, international marketing.
We should all be grateful, then, in this age of grape varieties for assistance in pronouncing their names. So thank you to Gordon-Maxwell Associates for advice on pronouncing the Hungarian varieties which are beginning to be found on wine merchants' lists. The white wine grape Irsai Oliver, they tell us, is pronounced "ear-shy". The white, Leanyka is "lee-arn-ka", and the white, Kiralyleanyka is "kee-ry-lee-arn-ka".
As for the reds, the phonetic description serves the double purpose of an aide-mémoire. Who could forget Harshlevelu once you know that it is pronounced "harsh-level-you"; or Kekfrankos when you can call it "cake-frong-kush".
