Try January
Paris Vines | Loire Chenin | Ordinary Claret
Ah well, life was good when la Seňora took the shot above in Valparaíso this past November. In Toronto this week, in between bouts of freezing rain and post-holiday penance at the gym, things could seem a bit more bleak. But, with wine, there is always hope… if a bit more temperate this month, than last.
The title of this post was stolen outright inspired by the latest Substack from Victoria Moore, who also links to this measured piece on Dry January by Robert M. Kaplan, a senior scholar at the Stanford School of Medicine’s Clinical Excellence Research Center: ‘Why I’m skipping Dry January’.
I’m not going to give Dry January more words than it deserves. The best, latest explanation of how the Trademarked, prohibitionist campaign came to be is from Andrew Haupt’s Substack: ‘Kill-Devil 2.5: Dry January is a Conspiracy’. I recommend reading it with a chilled glass of Chenin Blanc, like the one recommended below.
For those of us draw the line at Damp January, this Substack will continue to try and find affordable and interesting wines. To be enjoyed in moderation, of course.
GEOFFREY FINCH AND THE HIDDEN VINEYARDS OF PARIS
I am late to Geoffrey Finch’s entertaining and informative volume, The Hidden Vineyards of Paris, which was published in 2024. I have been, however, a follow of his Substack, Paris Wine Walks for a couple of years, and the book is very much an extension of the sensibility keeps me reading it every week. I spent a good deal of the holidays, pouring over his guide to wine production in the City of Light and the surrounding Île-de-France region, dreaming of being an urban vineayrd flâneur.
When it was time to get back to work, Finch was the first person I called upon in 2026 and he agreed to sit for the video interview below. In it we discuss The Hidden Vineyards of Paris, and also the history of wine in Paris, and his advocacy for natural wine.
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WINE RECOMMENDATIONS
Le Garenne Chenin Blanc 2024
Price: $18.95
Channel: LCBO Vintages
Producer: Le Garenne
Country: France
Region: Loire Valley
Appellation: IGP Val-de-Loire
Grapes: Chenin Blanc
Alcohol by Volume: 11%
Sugar Content: 2 grams per litre
I am midway into an investigation about what exactly Le Garenne is. They make wines from all around the long Loire Valley, from all the way east in Sancerre to the river’s mouth at the Atlantic in Muscadet. I don’t know where this Chenin comes from. My guess is somewhere between Angers and Tours, likely from a number of sources, since there’s no specific appellation on the label, though they make a point of saying the grapes were “sustainably farmed”.
Maybe it’s a co-operative, of some kind of project or collaboration between a number of wineries. What matters immediately is that they managed to get a dry Loire Chenin into the retail operation of the LCBO for under $20. Wines like this for sale by the bottle are few and far between. I’ll continue my investigation and report back because I like more than the taste of this wine: it looks like an interesting concept and might be what (some of) the future of wine production will look like.
The dominant fruit flavours in the 2024 Le Garenne Chenin are core fruits: quince and Japanese pear, but with a squeeze of lime on top, and a vase of flowers in the middle of a small table it’s being served on. There’s a real line of acidity that distracts from weight and a slightly glycerine mouthful. I can see how this would work as a traditionally sweeter wine, but glad it was made bone dry, despite the low alcohol. It wants food: seafood, or something in cream, or seafood in cream, like a casserole. Or plain potato chips, or popcorn with real butter.
https://www.lcbo.com/en/le-garenne-chenin-blanc-47327
Château Hauchat Fronsac 2022
Price: $19.95
Channel: LCBO Vintages
Producer: Famille Saby
Country: France
Region: Bordeaux (Right Bank)
Appellation: Fronsac
Grapes: Merlot*
Alcohol by Volume: 13%
Sugar Content: 3 grams per litre
In the early 1980s one of my favourite ice cream flavours was Häagen-Dazs Boysenberry, now long discontinued. The tween lore of the time was that is was a made-up purple fruit, but apparently it exists as a man made fruit. The boysenberry was created in California in the 1920s by Rudolph Boysen, and is a hybrid cross between raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, and loganberries.
Having no idea what dewberries taste like, and only a vague one about logans, I’m glad I have the 40 year old taste memory because the 2022 tastes like it. Or at least it reminded me of it: it sits somewhere on the liminal between red and black fruit. It’s fresh with food friendly acidity and supported by tannins that are soft enough to drink now, but sturdy enough to put down for a few years. It’s a solid wine.
Now that prime cuts of well reared beef cost around $40 a pound, it’s nice to have a perfectly paired Claret to go with them that won’t break the bank. This ordinary young Right Bank Bordeaux, from Fronsac near St. Emillion, could, I think, go up against a ten year old Cru Borugeois and look pretty good for a fraction of the price. Democracy is not quite dead.
*It may be more than Merlot. The fiche technique at the Saby website says 100%, but for the 2016 vintage. I am just assuming they carry this on, or that whatever else is in there is a very small percentage.
https://www.lcbo.com/en/ch-teau-hauchat-2018-123489
Just followed you on Threads too! 🍷 Let’s support each other.
Loved the interview with Geoffrey Finch. I’ve been on two of his wine walks and they are eye-opening and fun.