A closer look: Vouvray
With wines made almost entirely from a single grape, Chenin Blanc, it’s amazing the diversity of wines you’ll see carrying the name Vouvray. As the largest white wine appellation in Anjou-Saumur in the Touraine, Vouvray crafts wines from dry to sweet and still to sparkling.
A grape with naturally high acidity, Chenin Blanc found its home in Vouvray quite early on in the 4th century. The cool climate bodes well for the grapes and the unique tuffeau soils, a type of limestone, of the region, infuse the wines with a distinct minerality. Many of the region’s exquisite chateaux have been built from this impressive soil.
Dry styles of Vouvray will have more noticeable acidity, while in sweeter wines the acidity may be less noticeable. Regardless, it is this acidity that allows Vouvray to age for decades. While the wines may achieve more complexity over time, the fresh, fruity character isn’t lost.
More than half of each vintage’s grapes tend to go to still wine, with the remaining used for sparkling. Sparkling Vouvray tends to display an even more noticeable acidity, making it an ideal aperitif.
The weather plays a key role in determining the styles of wine made each year. Sweet wines are made from late-harvested grapes that are allowed to over-ripen on the vine, concentrating their sugars. This requires warm weather to linger into the early autumn, so in cooler years only dry wines will be made. In general, Vouvray has one of the latest harvests in France, often picking well into November.
What this all means is a diversity of styles and also a variance from vintage for vintage. Vouvray is a multi-faceted wine, one capable of endless surprises.