Richard Allisette: Fancy licking slate?

‘A bungee jump into a gooseberry bush’; ‘A barrow load of ugli fruit’; ‘sweaty saddles’; ‘The inside of a pencil box’; ‘poo in a farmyard’.

All of the above are descriptions given by professional wine pundits to the stuff they were swirling in their glass.

If you want to know what the authors were trying to describe, then in order they were – New Zealand sauvignon blanc, New World chenin blanc, Hunter Valley shiraz, classic red Bordeaux and finally, mature red burgundy.

If there is one thing that is more difficult than trying to guess a wine ‘blind’, then it’s converting smells and tastes into words – and I’m someone who tries to do that weekly in this column and in my tasting notes at work.

There aren’t many products where one’s descriptive flights of fancy are likely to see you ending up in Private Eye’s Pseuds Corner. You don’t, after all, go into your butcher and expect to see descriptions of every piece of meat above the counter; cheese mongers may offer a couple of words about the more unusual cheeses but they expect you to know what mature cheddar or Roquefort taste like and the same applies to seafood. Yet wine, and to a certain extent spirits, appear to need tasting notes.

There is one descriptive phrase that really sticks in my mind and it was uttered by a customer of my previous business – not by someone who tastes wine for a living.

I was trying to sell him a bottle of my favourite Chinon when he remarked, ‘No thanks, it’s like licking a dry piece of slate.’

I had to laugh, because I could not have come up with a better description – the difference being that I bought and drank Chinon because it tasted like that, while he avoided it.

Chinon is one of the great red wines of the Loire Valley and like Saumur which we visited last week, it is made from the cabernet franc grape variety.

While Saumur and its ‘cru’ Saumur-Champigny should be enjoyed by anyone with a penchant for red Bordeaux, Chinon is different. It really reflects the soil in which the grapes are grown – as do its near neighbours Bourgeuil and St Nicolas de Bourgueil – it is the most mineral red in the Loire Valley and perhaps the most difficult to appreciate.

It’s style has changed over the years. On one of my first buying trips to the Loire 40 years ago I called into a grower whose wines I didn’t know very well and bought a couple of cases of his top Chinon for myself.

I got it home, opened a bottle and realised it was so tannic it was almost undrinkable. I put the case under the stairs and tried again five years later. Still too tannic to enjoy. It was not until it reached its 20th birthday that it became truly wonderful and could have held its own with a pretty serious Bordeaux.

Chinon is not only a wine, it is also a town (the author and philosopher Rabelais was born there) and if you decide to holiday along the Loire, it’s well worth visiting even if you are not really a wine buff. It was in Chinon that 17-year-old Joan of Arc met Charles VII to acknowledge him as rightful heir to the throne.

Chinon and its historic castle overlooks the Vienne river, a tributary of the Loire with stunning views as you travel along its banks. Although long-lived serious Chinon is still made (thankfully with less reliance on oak these days) if I am in the area I quite often order the cheapest Chinon on a restaurant’s list as this is likely to have been made for early drinking and in the heat of summer is often served well chilled. Along with Beaujolais, it is one of the few truly thirst-quenching reds there is. White and pink Chinon is also made (the white from chenin blanc) but 85% of production is red – it is the largest red wine appellation in the Loire and, while cabernet sauvignon is permitted in the blend, few producers use it.

One of the largest producers of Chinon also happens to be the best – Couly-Dutheil. They make more than a dozen different wines – white and rose as well as red – with the very best red being the Clos de L’Echo. If you see an old vintage of this on a wine list, try to ignore the price and enjoy one of the best red wines in the whole of the Loire. If you want to visit they are in the heart of the town and open to visits all year round.

Other producers I’ve enjoyed over the years include Domaine Bernard Baudry, Domaine Charles Joguet (Clos du Chene Vert is a stunning wine), Domaine Olga Raffault (the white here is quite lovely) and Serge and Bruno Sourdais whose basic Chinon is my first choice red at home when the weather is hot.

If you want to stay in the town the Hotel Diderot is a small friendly hotel dating back to the 15th century. There is no restaurant here but there are dozens in Chinon, though you may want to avoid the real touristy places in the centre. It’s a while since I’ve eaten in the town so here are a couple of recommendations from Beverley Blanning’s excellent book Wines Of The Loire Valley. Au Local is near the castle and run by a young couple – you can enjoy a glass of Chinon while gazing at the fabled Clos de L’Echo vineyard. If you fancy splashing out, Les Annees 30 has a Michelin star and a very good wine list and is one of the few restaurants in the area open on a Monday.

Excellent if you fancy an evening licking slate.