May 2, 2018

FLORENT COSME Vouvray Sec “Coup de Fougue” 2016

(Vouvray, Loire Valley, FR) $25

Great Vouvray sec (dry Vouvray) can taste more like crisp apples than apples do. And this wine from Florent Cosme is a perfect example. Sleek, snappy, and absolutely loaded with minerals, it’s as precise as a dagger. If you’re an “acid freak,” this one’s for you. The wine comes from 40-year-old vines growing in flint and clay over limestone…the legendary soil matrix of the Loire. The Loire Valley is known as the Garden of France, and this Vouvray with a composed salad is to die for. (13% abv)

90 points KM

Available at 56 Degree Wine

Which of the following sweet wines typically has the highest residual sugar content?

A. Vintage Port from Portugal

B. Sauternes from France

C. Pedro Ximénez Sherry from Spain

D. Trockenbeerenauslesen from Germany

If a wine has any natural grape sugar left—that is, if some of the sugar was not converted to alcohol during fermentation—then the wine is said to have residual sugar. In order to be considered a sweet wine (not a table wine), a wine has to have quite a lot of unconverted natural grape sugar. According to European Union legislation, for example, a wine labeled “sweet” must have at least 4.5% residual sugar. Most of Europe’s great sweet wines, however, have considerably more than that. Port, Sauternes, and German TBAs are all sweet, but nothing compares to Spain’s opulent Pedro Ximénez sherries (PX), which have over 40% residual sugar. PX wines are nearly black in color and have a texture as thick as maple syrup. A small glass is more than dessert wine, it is dessert.

Foudre

French term for a large wooden cask of indefinite size. Popular in France’s Rhône Valley, foudres are significantly larger than small oak barrels (barriques or pieces). Foudres often have the capacity to hold 528 to… Continue reading

FLORENT COSME Vouvray Sec “Coup de Fougue” 2016

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