Master Class on White Wines of the Loire Valley. Pascaline Lepeltier, one of America’s best-known and respected sommeliers, presented a series of lectures in New York City (January 2018), San Francisco (January 2018), and Los Angeles (January 2018) that focused on will focus on the diverse grape varieties and styles of the region’s white wines that arise from differences in micro-climate and geological elements. The discussion and tasting proceeded from the westernmost of the region and continued upstream, beginning with bone dry, still, fresh Muscadet, and moving on to the Loire’s world-standard sauvignon blanc. The lecture then crossed into Anjou-Saumur and Touraine (the kingdoms of Chenin blanc in all its glory) and examined exemplars of dry, off-dry, late harvest, botrytized, and bubbly Chenin. The seminar addressed the region’s terroir in all its implications, encompassing not only geology but also historical and economic influences that shape contemporary wines of the Loire Valley.
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