Two from La Tour Saint-Martin, 2021
I will never forget my first visit to see Bertrand Minchin at La Tour Saint-Martin. I had previously met and tasted with Bertrand several times, either at tastings in London, or at the Salon des Vins de Loire in Angers (a face-to-face wine fair and wine tasting – remember those?). But this was my first visit to see Bertrand at his domaine. I was staying in Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire, just north of the Pouilly-Fumé appellation, and plugging the domaine’s address into my sat-nav gave me something of a shock; expecting a short drive across the Loire and through Sancerre, I realised Bertrand’s domaine was more than 60 kilometres away, close to Bourges.
The drive was a long one, not least because I had to make an impromptu detour around the air base at Avord. Despite what the alluring yet anonymous voice emanating from my sat-nav was telling me, you simply aren’t allowed to drive straight through the centre of French military bases, and this includes the one located at Avord. Something to do with the stockpile of Air-Sol Moyenne Portée nuclear cruise missiles held there I think. Oh well.
So I was a few minutes late, but it was great to catch up with Bertrand and to understand not only his latest releases, and new cuvées, but also to taste some older wines. It turned out the wines of La Tour Saint-Martin can age rather well, better than I had expected. Since then I have been an avid followed of Bertrand and his wines. So I was glad recently to be able to check in on a couple of the domaine’s most recent releases, both from the 2019 vintage.
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