Who loves the Loire Valley? With more than 4,000 wineries, I’ve been trying to scratch the surface of the region. Luckily, I was invited to a fabulous Saget La Perrière lunch at Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink, so I was happy to use that for my “research.”
Photo by Jordan Braun
The Loire Valley wine region includes the French wine regions situated along the Loire River from the Muscadet region near the city of Nantes on the Atlantic coast to the region of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, just southeast of the city of Orléans in north central France. In between are the regions of Anjou, Saumur, Bourgueil, Chinon, and Vouvray. The Loire Valley itself follows the river through the Loire province to the river’s origins in the Cévennes, but the majority of the wine production takes place in the regions mentioned. The area includes 87 appellations under the Appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC), Vin Délimité de Qualité Superieure (VDQS), and Vin de pays systems.
Nearly 40 years ago, the Saget family founded Saget La Perrière—a modern, family-run company specializing in wines from the Loire. Born into a family of wine growers based in Pouilly-sur-Loire for generations, Jean-Louis Saget successfully grew the business from a small firm into Maison Saget La Perrière. Now, it’s all in the family with sons Arnaud and Laurent Saget.
Photo by Jordan Braun
At lunch, we indulged in two labels. The first, La Petite Perrière, is one of the house’s flagship labels which is all about creating a straightforward approach to grape varieties. This line focuses on the purity and minerality of terroir-driven Sauvignon blanc and Pinot noir from appellations. The second, Mégalithe & Sacrilège labels, take the grape varieties and turn them into age-worthy fine wines.
We started out with La Petite Perrière Rosé 2018. It’s made from 100% Pinot Noir and was a pale, light pink color. It had notes of roses and red berries. It was crisp, zesty, and fresh. I’m all about Rosé, so it was speaking my language.
Next up was La Petite Perrière Pinot Noir 2018. It is largely sourced from their estate vineyards in Touraine (Loire Valley) and a part of the blend is sourced from the South of France through their long-term partners. It was a lovely ruby color with notes of black fruits with silky tannins.
The last of this label was La Petite Perrière Sauvignon Blanc 2018. It was bright and had notes of white flowers, peaches, and minerality. Perfect for the wood oven roasted octopus.
Moving on to the next labels, we poured some Saget La Perrière Blanc Fumé de Pouilly 2018. It’s made from 100% Sauvignon Blanc. “Blanc Fumé” draws all its characteristics from its original terroir in the Center of France, on the banks of the Loire River. Its classi fication, one of the oldest in France, goes back to 1937. It had nice minerality and acidity.
Then it was onto La Perrière Mégalithe Sancerre 2016. Again, made with 100% Sauvignon Blanc, Megalithe is the icon wine of Saget La Perrière with the first vintage produced in1998. The goal of Megalithe is to showcase the beauty of aged Sauvignon Blanc. They’re all yummy, but this had even more oomph with notes of ripe fruit and slight vanilla. I’m normally not into barrel aging, but it works here. 50% of the blend is aged for six to 10 months in oak barrels (33% new) just long enough to soften the wine and give round nutty aromas.
We sipped on some La Perrière Sancerre 2018. The nose is strong with notes of yellow stone fruit, lemon, minerality, and flowers. It paired nicely with the roasted cobia and pan-roasted chicken.
Finishing up, we moved to the Marie De Beauregard Vouvray 2017. Marie de Beauregard Vouvray comes from an estate located in the village of “La Roche Corbon” near the city of Vouvray. Saget La Perrière has a partnership with this estate for over 10 years. Winemaker Bruno Mineur selects the best of the estate grown grapes for blending and maturing. The name “Marie de Beauregard” is a homage to the first owner’s wife of the water mill where the wines are aged. Made with 100% Chenin Blanc, this wine had notes of pear, honey, lemon, and chalkiness. A perfect ending to the meal.
Photo by Jordan Braun
Between the delicious wines, food, and company, it was the perfect “research” expedition through Loire Valley.
