Soften Thy Brow: The Vouvray Appellation at 90 Years
Le fils des rudes ceps et des molles collines,
Le Vouvray vient de naître au fond des caveaux noirs,
Lors, les vieux vignerons, ouvrant leurs lèvres fines,
Baissent le jeune vin au berceau des pressoirs.
– J.M. Rougé, in Vouvray, by Charles Gay (Arrault & Cie, 1944)
In writing his account of the Vouvray appellation, Charles Gay opens with a poem penned by one J. M. Rougé. It tells us of the rugged vines and gentle slopes of the Vouvray landscape, and of the birth of the new vintage in dark cellars, a young wine laid down in its cradle by old hands.
I am grateful that Charles Gay saw fit to reproduce this poem, as I have never seen it elsewhere, and if truth be told I can find no record of its author beyond the mention of his name in these pages. This one publication stands as testimony to the craft of the mysterious Monsieur Rougé; a few lines of text is all that prevents memory of the poet dissolving and disappearing, like a morning mist over a Vouvray vineyard.
You could say that a recent tasting hosted by a group of winemakers also from the Vouvray appellation, featuring a small cohort of wines from a diverse range of vintages and vignerons, served a similar purpose.
The tasting’s true raison d’être was to celebrate the Vouvray appellation’s 90th birthday, the official decree enshrining the appellation in law having been signed off in 1936 (of note, eight years before Gay’s book was published, so it is surprising that he makes no mention of the appellation at all). As well as being a celebratory moment, however, the tasting also served to keep the spirit of long-past vignerons alive. As was the case with Monsieur Rougé, several of the names on the labels were quite unfamiliar. In contrast to my recent Liquid Gold report, this was not a tasting of Carême, Foreau, Fouquet, Huet and Pinon, but of Carré, Champion, Huguet and Lothion.
And in one or two cases the wines represented vignerons who are no longer with us, their domaines wound up, the vines sold off. The bottles, a tangible memory of the vigneron’s work, came from the family’s cellars.
In this short tasting report I present my thoughts on the wines, which range from vintages as young as 2003, as mature as 1947. Before I come to the wines though, bearing in mind the purpose of the tasting, a few words on the Vouvray appellation itself.
Please log in to continue reading: