Corked!

2008 Le Claux Delorme, AC Valençay and 2008 Menetou-Salon, La Tour Saint-Martin

It is always surprising how quickly a bad cork will destroy a wine. Last night I was looking forward to tasting and enjoying a bottle of Albane and Bertrand Minchin’s 2008 Menetou-Salon white. It was not to be – a badly corked bottle and this Menetou-Salon had only recently been bottled. Time enough for the malodorous cork to have done its worst and completely stuffed up the wine.

Fortunately I had a bottle of Albane and Minchin’s 2008 Le Claux Delorme, Valençay. 100% Sauvignon Blanc this is deliciously citric and zippy and was perfect with some large prawns and garlic chips.

The resolute stare Bertrand uses on suppliers of bad corks!

It is a pity that many producers in the Loire’s Central Vineyards, like Le Tour Saint-Martin, are not bottling at least their whites and rosés in screwcap. When I visited Henri Bourgeois last Thursday I watched them bottling their Petit Bourgeois white in screwcaps. “We would like to have more of our Loire wines in screwcap but as well as continuing resistance in France to this closure, you need much more storage space as screwcaps are more fragile than cork,” explained Jean-Marie. “They have to be stored upright.”

Le Petit Bourgeois being screwcapped: 18.6.09