A Wine Lovers Weekly Guide To $10 Wines - A Loire Valley (france) Muscadet

In this review we will taste a Muscadet wine from the westernmost part of central France's Loire Valley. In a somewhat unusual process Muscadet wines are left in contact with their sediment to enhance their fruit and yeasty quality. Muscadet is a classic fish and seafood wine, so we are going to try some nontraditional pairings. By the way, Monsieur Sauvion is known as the King of Muscadet. And the grape variety is known as Melon de Bourgogne.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Sauvion Carte D'Or Muscadet, 2007 12.% alcohol about $9

Let's start with the marketing materials. Tasting Note: Light straw color; light gooseberry, apple, lemon and mineral aromas; dry, with crisp acidity, clean citrusy fruit and snowpea flavors on palate with yeasty notes in finish. Serving Suggestion: Serve chilled as an aperitif; shellfish and seafood; perfect with oysters on the half-shell. And now for my review.

I started by sipping this wine alone. It was very refreshing and quite acidic. My first meal was barbecued chicken wings with rice and homemade roasted eggplant slices in garlic. When the Muscadet met the chicken wings it did soften but not enough. I tasted grapefruit. The wine got rounder with the rice and eggplant but still was too acidic.

The second meal was an omelet garnished with more of the homemade oven-roasted eggplant, Greek olives, and an artichoke and mayonnaise dip. The dominant flavor was apple, and this time the acidity was good. The eggplant softened the wine's acidity. The wine didn't have much taste with the olives, nor with the soft-tasting artichoke dip. I finished the meal with some orange-flavored fruit juice candy and the wine became lemony.

The final meal was slow-cooked smoked turkey thighs with chickpeas. The wine was quite present and almost metallic. It was acidic and certainly cleansed the palate, a good thing given the meal's heaviness. And it tasted of minerals.

I finished the tasting with two cheeses. The first cheese was a Ricotta, an Italian-style cottage cheese. The Muscadet was refreshingly acidic but had little taste. The next cheese was a local Provolone. The wine was somewhat sour and not flavorful.

Final verdict. I certainly won't bother to buy this pedestrian wine again. Maybe I missed a fine fish or seafood pairing but really don't think so. Now a better Muscadet, one in a different price range might be another story.