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White wines from France's Loire and Alsace

By Darryl Beeson

Dive into this diverse array of refreshing white wines, some sweet and some dry. Consider these to be air conditioning in a bottle. They are all well suited to pair with higher end, gourmet styled picnic fare. All will compliment seafood and shellfish.

Chateau Moncontour Vouvray, Loire 2002
Price $12.99
Rating 89
The nose is delicate with ripe apple notes. The sip is pure red delicious apple with complex mineral undertones.

Chenin Blanc shows its stuff in the center of the very long Loire Valley. Wines range in dryness from sec (dry), to demi-sec (off-dry) to moelleux (medium to very sweet). More details are at www.moncontour.com.

Reverdy Sancerre Cuvee "Les Coutes" Loire 2002
Price $16.99
Rating 93
The flavors are crisp and bright, with vibrant lemon and citrus. The good length is complex with mineral elements.

"La Coute is one of those very steep hills above-referenced and two-thirds of the vines are over fifty years old," explains Nicholas Reverdy. "The yields are very low, about 45 hl/ha, with excellent natural ripeness and awesome concentration of Sauvignon/mineral
character. I love Sancerre, especially like this."

This white is imported to the US by Peter Weygandt Selections (Weygandt-Metzlere). Learn more at www.weygandtmetzler.com.

Lucien Crochet "Croix du Roy" Sancerre 2003
Price $25
Rating 91
This is classic Sancerre from Bue, the smallest of the villages in this district, located in the southern part of the Sancerre appellation. The soilcomposition in this area yields wines that are highly aromatic with excellent balance; the wines are less rustic than Sancerre from other parts of this appellation and express pure citrus fruit and pungent
minerality.

According to the Wine Spectator: 'Crisp and fresh, with grass, citrus peel and chalk notes and a bracing, stony finish. Quite terroir-driven in the end. Drink now through 2005.' (10/04) According to Robert Parker: 'Lucien Crochet is one of the finest producers in Sancerre.'

Pierre Cherrier "Domaine de la Rossignol" "Grand Picot" Sancerre, Loire 2003
Price $19
Rating 90
This white is made from old vines ("Cuvée Vielles Vignes"), and is crisp and cleanly flavored. There is a complex under currents of mineral.

Serve with fresh, simple seafood with lime citrus wedges on the side. This is a big, crisp style of Sancerre, their reserve, named for the family's great grandfather, and it comes from their oldest vineyard plots on chalk. There is great texture from aging in neutral oak, and echoes the lime in the dish adding hints of grapefruit and even more mineral to the equation.

Rene Mure Gewûrztraminer "Cotes de Rouffach" Alsace 2002
Price $17
Rating 92
The flavors are somewhat oily and spicy. There is earthy complexity in the long length. Robert Kacher is the importer.

Domaine Ehrhart Gewûrztraminer "Raisins Egrappes" Alsace 2002
Price $25
Rating 93
The sip is moderately sweet and laced with spicy complexity. Serve this complex sip with high end deli meats, artisian made sausage and hard cheese.

The importer is Robert Kacher. Robert Parker, who is considered to be the world's most authoritative wine writer, has recently named Robert Kacher as "one of the world's most influential wine personalities of the last twenty years.

Darryl Beeson travels the world looking for great wine values. In the past, he has been wine steward or cellar master for The Mansion on Turtle Creek, Voltaire, and The Adolphus Hotel. Not one for stuffiness or secret handshakes relative to wine, this Texan might now be described as a "ki-yi-yippee sommelier, sommelier." Beeson reports on wine, spirits, food and travel for numerous publications.

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