The 2005 Sauvion Vouvray--how wine can evoke memories

I always find it amazing how closely our senses of taste and smell are tied to memory. For me, I find a perfect example of this is the 2005 Sauvion Vouvray. I first tasted this wine at Walt Disney World's Epcot theme park in Orlando, FL. For those of you who think this sounds odd, Epcot is a great spot for food and wine nuts--especially at the International Food and Wine Festival held each Fall. I love wandering around trying different foods and wines from the different countries, and this pleasure is greatly amplified during the festival. (More about that in a later post.) Yes, some of the food at Epcot is dumbed-down for less adventurous palates, but if you look you can really find a lot of great stuff.

I tried this wine in the France pavillion at the Chefs de France restaurant. I can still taste the Tarte a la flamme Alsacienne--a crispy piece of flat bread smothered in creme fraiche and topped with bacon and onions. It is unbelievable. The smooth sweetness of this wine matched perfectly with the rich, creamy, bacon laced deliciousness of the Tarte.

This wine is not available in Nashville, so we contacted the distibutor and found a couple of wine shops in (fairly) nearby Knoxville, TN who stock it. On a trip through Knoxville last year, we called ahead to reserve a case and picked it up while we were in town. I decided to open a bottle this afternoon.

Vouvray is a region in France in the Loire valley. It is most famous for its white wines, particulary those made from the Chenin Blanc grape. Like most of Europe, France typically classifies its wines by their region, rather than their varietal. (More on the concept of terrior here.) The 2005 Sauvion Vouvray is delightful. I immediately detect a strong aroma of melons and honey on the nose, followed by a trace of oranges. (It is not really the smell of fresh oranges--more like candied oranges. Think orange marmalade.) There is a "green" smell in the background that I cannot pin down at first. It makes me think of green apples, but sweeter. After the wine has a chance to breathe a little, I finally have it. Do you remember Jolly Rancher candies? Did you ever try the "green apple" Jolly Ranchers? That is exacly what I am smelling in the background. Yum.

With all this talk of honey, marmalade, and candy, you might imagine this wine is sweet--and it is. Not sweet in a cheap, candy wine way--more like the luscious sweetness of overripe fruit. Overripe honeydew is the best image I can produce to describe the taste of this wine. Drinking this wine is like biting into the most perfect honeydew melon you can imagine. It is not overly acidic, it is bursting with melon flavors, and it is rich and sweet. Normally I want sweetness matched with acidity, but the green taste in the background (notice I said honeydew, not cantaloupe) provides the necessary contrast.

This is not an everyday wine. It can be sipped on its own or paired with foods, but care must be taken to choose the right food due to the sweetness of the wine. The bacon, onion, and creme fraiche tarte listed above is a great pairing and can be used as a guide. The sweetness of the wine meets the saltiness of the bacon head-on. I can see this wine standing up to similar salty, savory foods.

Beyond my enjoyment of the taste and smell of this wine, however, is my enjoyment of the memory it evokes. Whenever and wherever you drink wine, drink deeply, and completely savor the moment. Months or years later, the memory of that moment can come alive again, with the popping of a cork.