By the end of summer, you’ve probably had your fill of bright red berries so it’s good to know that the best of the season is upon us for apples.
There’s nothing like either fruit when grown in the UK and why we've put together a video recipe for a fine Tarte aux Pommes and we’ve paired this with a top class Coteaux du Layon from Chateau la Varriere in Anjou.
Coteaux du Layon comes from the vineyards running down to the Layon River in the Anjou district of the Loire Valley. This is a sweeter white wine made from the Chenin that is either Botrytis affected – this is when the noble rot forms on the skins.
The grapes then become dehydrated with a higher proportion of sugar and acidity to juice – or simply given a longer hang time on the vine to become really, really ripe.
The vineyards are in soils of schist and the proximity to the River Layon means that the noble rot forms well there. Chateau de la Varriere is owned by the Beaujeau family and their reputation is astonishing as grape growers and wine makers of top class Chenin Blanc.
This particular cuvee of Coteaux du Layon – Le Savietier – is simply packed with notes of baked apple and quince together with overtones of honey and faint touches of smoke.
It’s not ridiculously sweet but it does have a luscious mouth-feel and a really fresh minerality that makes the wine work so well with many apple deserts.
There’s a bit of feathered game starting to appear in the shops now so we’re also offering a cracking cru Beaujolais to go with it. The wine is Morgon Les Charmes from Didier Desvignes from Domaine Du Calvaire De Roche-Grès.
I have to admit to drinking a bottle of this at the Restaurant le Terminus in Tournus on a recent visit there and it was quite stunning. Game wasn’t in season then so I made do with Chicken in a wild mushroom sauce but more of that in November.
The soils of the Les Charmes vineyard are also of schistous nature but there’s some manganese as well so both to serve to underpin the wine and give it a bit more guts than your average Beaujolais.
It’s got bright cherry fruit but as it’s got a couple of years of age on its back it’s also got some more Burgundian, earthier notes there too making it so good with a pheasant or a wild duck.
It’s not a wine to be sipped and savoured but rather something for glugging down with some good friends. It’ll go well with cheese too, especially if in a fermented style such as Brie or Camembert.