Domaine de Rablais Touraine Sauvignon Blanc, Loire, France 2018 (from £9.76, woodwinters.com; slurp.co.uk; cambridgewine.com) It is, of course, somewhere down the list of present anxieties. But there have been times, in these intensely difficult weeks, with our social lives narrowed down to the dimensions of our computer and mobile screens, when it has felt like nature has been taunting us with the gorgeousness of this year’s spring. It’s there just outside the window: the air is thick with it. But we can’t get out and enjoy it. Even under the influence of intense cabin fever, I’m not quite daft enough to think we can recreate the missing joys of spring with a glass of wine. But some wines do at least seem to offer a sense, however fleeting, of spring’s scents and energy. The sauvignon blancs of France’s Central Loire Valley certainly have this effect on me: that combination of sappy grassy greenness, with notes of blossomy white flowers, and an intense freshness and silvery liveliness all very much present in Domaine de la Rablais’ example.
André Dezat Sancerre Blanc 2018 (from £16.95, tanners-wines.co.uk; bbr.com; uncorked.co.uk) Touraine sauvignon, drawn from a wide area of vineyards across the central Loire, is undoubtedly among the best value white wines around right now, with tonic-bringing, bright, zesty own-label expressions available from Aldi (£5.79), Sainsbury’s (£7) and Waitrose (£7.99) all hitting the Loire’s spring source. For extra-levels of graceful, evocative charm, it’s worth seeking out the individual villages, of which Sancerre is the most celebrated. You have to be careful with Sancerre: the vineyards that fan out from the town on its lofty perch are beautiful but the quality is not always as good as the elevated price tag suggests. Like chateauneuf-du-pape down in the Rhône Valley, this is an appellation with rather too many producers trading on the famous name. At their best, however, the wines have a quintessential Loire sauvignon mix of verdant verve and delicate raciness, and the wines produced by André Dezat and sons are undoubtedly, consistently in that category.
Château de Tracy Pouilly-Fumé 2018 (from £21, mrwheelerwine.com; tanners-wines.co.uk; leaandsandeman.co.uk) Sancerre’s rival for the greatest producer of Loire sauvignon blanc is Pouilly-Fumé. Beginner’s in wine are often told that the way to distinguish Pouilly from Sancerre is to look for the distinctive whiff of gun flint – a smoky smell like someone’s just let off a cap gun. I’ve never been entirely convinced by this: from time to time I do pick up smoky notes in Pouilly-Fumé, but no more often than I do in other Loire (or indeed, global) sauvignon blancs. Mostly the big differences between the wines of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé seem to come down more to winemaking style and the precise patch of vineyard the producer is working with. I’ve never reliably been able to tell them apart. What I do know, however, is that the sauvignon blanc of Château de Tracy is among my favourites in Pouilly-Fumé, the Loire, the world … a wine of evanescent, verdant, spirit-lifting charm.
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