French white wines

The theme of tonight’s wine testing was French white wines. Since French winemaking is the role model and mother of all winemaking this is a subject one could talk a lot about, and drink a lot of too of course.

We started off with Champagne de Pompadour. A bit of a bargain when it comes champagnes, but still a very good one. Quite sparkling with big bubbles, which increase the festivities of drinking champagne. The taste was pretty dry with hints of flowers and citrus. But I also found some almonds and nuts in the after taste.

Next wine was Sancerre Les Baronnes 2005 form the Loire Valley. The first taste came off a pretty weak, but then more or less exploded with strong aromas a tropical fruits and nettles. I have a feeling this wine would go very well with seafood as scallops, shrimps and white fishes.

As number 3 we tried Chassagne-Montrachet 2004. A Bourgogne with lot of oak, mineral and yellow plums. The taste also had some hints of dried fruits as apricot and apples. This turned out to be my favourite tonight. That because of the oak and minerals. One can never go wrong with those tastes.

Number 4 of the 5 wines we tried was Gustave Lorentz Gewurtztraminer Réserve 2004 from Alsace. A typical Gewurtztraminer in my opion. Quite yellow with a smell of roses and perfume. The taste was pretty dry and sweet with the smell of roses and perfume coming back. Probably q perfect wine to cheeses like taleggio and munster.

The last wine was Château Fontebride Sauternes 2002 from Bordeaux. A golden yellow colour with a strong smell of honey and dried fruit. Maybe also a hint of coconut. The taste was like all Sauternes quite sweet and again the smell and taste of honey was pretty dominant. One wouldn’t like to drink a lot of Sauternes since it’s such a special wine but together with some nice and strong cheeses it’s a perfect end of a meal.

Next month the theme is going to be red wines from the old and new world. Something to look forward since I always have liked South African and Australian wines.