When most wine drinkers think of the Loire Valley, it is the whites that come to mind, those crisp, bracing wines of Muscadet, Vouvray and Sancerre.  This is unfortunate because the region also makes some very fine reds too, and they come with the added advantage that, because they aren’t so well known, they are extremely good value. I’ll be highlighting two of them in this week’s and next week’s column.

Reds represent 23% of the wine produced in the valley, with half of them based on the cabernet franc grape. This grape, which appears to be enjoying a period of resurgence at the moment, can be almost schizophrenic in personality. When aged in stainless steel, as most of it is in the Loire, it results in a light, fresh and fruity wine ideal for summer drinking, so more on that as the weather warms.

But these days a small percentage is aged in bariques, small oak barrels that yield an altogether more polished and sophisticated wine, a wine like this week’s selection, the Chinon, Clos de l’Echo, Couly-Dutheil 2005 ($27).

Chinon, along with its neighbor Bourguil, is widely believed to produce the valley’s most distinguished reds and the Clos de l’Echo is a most pleasurable proof of this assertion. It is a gloriously polished, rich and silky wine with velvety yet robust tannins along with rich, ripe dark fruit flavors and a full, voluptuous mouthfeel. It intriguingly combines the rustic earthiness of a country wine with a surprising elegance and charm. Best of all though, it perfectly complemented the dry-aged rib-eye steak with which I drank it.

+++++++

To find this wine near you try wine-searcher.com.