WINES OF THE VENDÉE AND

THE PAYS NANTAIS

Wine expert John Sherwin, sommelier conseil
and director of French Wine Tours,
suggests what to drink on holiday, where to try it,
buy it - and what to take home with you.

VENDÉE

Vendée wines rarely travel far outside their region of origin, and are largely unknown or ignored, not only overseas, but also within France. If life was fair, this would not be so: Vendée wines are honest, well-made, and very good value for money.

The wines, collectively known as Fiefs Vendéens (literally 'Vendée Territories'), are classified as either 'VDQS' (Vin Délimité de Qualité Supérieure) or Vin de Pays.

In the official French wine classification system, Vin de Pays is in Division Three; VDQS in Division Two - but vying for promotion to Division One, the top-rated Appellation Contrôlée (AOC). The rules and regulations for the production of VDQS wines are every bit as strict as those for AOC, which gives the consumer a reassuring guarantee of quality.

Fiefs Vendéens

You will find reds, rosés, and dry whites. They are all wines to be drunk young (hooray!).
The reds are generally a mix of grape varieties - gamay (the Beaujolais grape), cabernet (Bordeaux most typically) and pinot noir (Bourgogne).
The rosés also come from mixes of these varieties.
Whites are made from varied mixes of chenin blanc (the white grape of the Loire Valley), grolleau gris, colombard, melon and sauvignon.

It's worth carrying home any VDQS Mareuil rosé. A gregarious soul, it will get along with seafood, white meat and even some of the less heavy red meats. Or can simply be drunk as an aperitif. Moreover, you will be taking with you a real taste of the Vendée - these wines are not bodged together industrially, but made carefully and as near by hand as dammit.

Though you will find a variety of these wines on supermarket shelves in the Vendée, you'll have much more fun tasting at the cellar door! However, buying unknown wine from an unknown region can be a trying business, so let's cut to the chase...

Recommendations

The best hunting-ground in terms of quality and number of wineries is Mareuil-sur-Lay, north-west of Luçon, and nearby Rosnay (there is a signposted wine route between the two villages). Vineyards are usually open for visits Monday to Saturday without appointment (though closed around lunchtime).

You should not have to pay much more than about 4.50 euros a bottle and, of course, there is never any obligation to purchase.

Ferme des Ardillers. On the La Roche-sur-Yon road leading out of Mareuil. (About 12km NNW of Luçon.) Tel: 02 51 97 20 10.
Château Marie-du-Fou. A great welcome from the Mourat family in their picturesque little shop alongside the river in the centre of Mareuil and in the shadow of the village's imposing castle.

Other areas to try are Brem (on the coast, near Brétignolles), Pissotte and Vix (north and south of Fontenay-le-Comte, respectively).

PAYS NANTAIS

This name refers mainly to the region south-east of Nantes, easily accessible from the Vendée. The wine here is principally Muscadet (made exclusively from the melon de bourgogne grape variety) - a white wine that is light and dry, and often comes with the slightest spritz of carbon dioxide.

Muscadet

There are three food matches for Muscadet - shellfish, shellfish and shellfish (sorry, I couldn't resist that one!). You may well have seen the Taj Mahal at dawn and dusk, but if you haven't eaten fresh crustaceans swilled down with slightly chilled Muscadet, overlooking the beach or fishing port of Les Sables-d'Olonne - well... It's ideal as an aperitif, too.

The best examples of Muscadet are fermented and aged sur lie, which is to say in contact with the lees - the solid particles, particularly yeast, that sink to the bottom of the fermentation/storage vessel. This might sound a bit grungy but, on the contrary, it adds character and flavour. Look for the mention sur lie on the label - the plain old Muscadets that are not bottled on the lees are generally inferior.

Do not take as gospel the generally-held belief that Muscadet cannot age and therefore should be drunk young: a well-made Muscadet can and will age (i.e. develop in bottle) for up to 10 years.
The beauty is, of course, that it can be drunk young too - cheers!

Recommendations

Resist the temptation to buy Muscadet from supermarkets. Some of the wine-making practices used by large-scale producers may be entirely kosher and within the rules but they are not always conducive to the art of making a classic wine - particularly where cash-flow, as opposed to patience and finesse, rules.

One of the best features of wine-making in the Loire generally is that it's on a relatively small scale, so when you're on your travels and see a dégustation sign, chances are that you'll be tasting with the winemaker himself. You should not have to pay more than 40F a bottle - generally less.
Some suggestions:

André-Michel Bregeon. Well respected by American wine guru Robert Parker, if that's important to you. An ageing hippy with an intriguing passionate-pragmatic approach. 5 Les Guisseaux, 44190 Gorges (2km WNW of Clisson). Tel. 02 40 06 93 19.

Domaine de la Cour du Château de la Pommeraie. Phone ahead to book a tasting. Superb value for money - less than 5 euros the bottle. 44330 Vallet (9km N of Clisson). Tel: 02 40 33 80 63.

Domaine de la Levraudière. No booking necessary, but another 5-euro star. 44330 La Chapelle-Heulin (12km NW of Clisson). Tel: 02 40 06 73 87.

Gros Plant

The other wine of the Pays Nantais, often overlooked when it's not being looked down on, is Gros Plant. If you want a dry and almost aggressively acidic white wine, this is your fellah.

Like Muscadet, it can be bottled sur lie and, like Muscadet, it goes very well with shellfish and seafood. Bad examples are, well, bad - acidic with no redeeming features. Good examples can be on a par with Muscadet but considerably cheaper. Generally speaking, when you go to a tasting of Muscadet there'll be Gros Plant around to taste too - so taste it and see. Like the Vendée wines, Gros Plant is a VDQS.

Recommendations

Domaine de la Rocherie. Bottled sur lie, the wine costs less than two quid the bottle and is brilliant stuff. Open Mon-Sat, 8am-8pm. No booking necessary. 44430 Le Landreau (6km NW of Vallet & 15km NNW of Clisson). Tel: 02 40 06 41 55.

Château de la Grange. No booking necessary. Open 2-6pm. 44650 Corcoué-sur-Logne (7km NW of Rocheservière & about 40km SW of Clisson). Tel: 02 40 26 68 66.

TASTING ETIQUETTE

Click here for some notes on how to sniff and sample the stuff.

FRENCH WINE TOURS WEBSITE
www.french-wine-tours.com

Click here for Angela's own, rather inexpert, list of a few additional vineyards

Return to Angela Bird's Vendée pages using the links below