From: Côte Roannaise, Loire Valley, France
Varietal: Gamay Saint-Romain
Tasting Notes: This gorgeously versatile red from the Côte Roannaise should be served slightly chilled to show off its “rich yet light” aesthetic. Impressive and classy at the same time, this wine will be an effortless fit at the table and in your glass. Juicy dark cherry, black raspberry, bramble, and spice notes lead on the nose with a pronounced depth and density from the older vines in Domaine Serol’s Perdrizière parcel that comprise this wine. Savory herbs and a textured, volcanic minerality take hold on the mid-palate and carry through to a beautifully balanced palate that shows off a silky mouthfeel, generous fruit, and a rounded finish that lingers.
Pairing: This Gamay would be a beautiful introduction to a coursed meal when poured alongside a hearty charcuterie plate featuring fattier cured meats and complex cheeses. Grilled fish with a touch of smoke or char will pull out some of the deeper characteristics of the wine, while a salty, crackly roast chicken skin and savory pan juices would meet a high, clarifying note of fruit alongside this wine. The following pork loin recipe brings the right balance of flavors to play well with the wine’s brightness, spice, and savory aspects. Additionally, BBQ of all kinds (even spicy!) makes for an amazing pairing with this wine, and we highly recommend trying this out with as many foods as possible.
Grilled Pork Loin With Herbs, Cumin and Garlic
By Melissa Clark
About.
Domaine Sérol produces a cuvée exclusively for the neighboring Michelin three-star restaurant ‘Troisgros’. The Sérols are great friends of the Troigros family: Michel Troigros co-owns the "Les Blondins" Vineyard with them. The Sérol property dates back to the 17th century and was passed from generation to generation. When Stéphane and Carine took over in 1998, the domaine totaled 12 hectares; they are now farming 35 hectares and have converted the domaine to organic/biodynamic viticulture.
The 1.5-hectare Perdrizière parcel lies on the other side of the village from the domaine, between Renaison and St. André d’Apchon, at 380-415 meters' altitude in the Bouthéran foothills. Robert Sérol bought the parcel in 1986, foreseeing its potential to make a great wine. Between phylloxera and the 1930s, hybrids that were naturally resistant against mildew were planted here, resulting in healthier soil due to the lack of a need for copper treatments. From the 1930s to the 1980s, the land lay fallow, allowing the soils to rest and regenerate even more.
In 1988, Domaine Sérol planted the vines that produced this wine on Perdrizière’s gentle, east-facing slope. The terroir here consists of high-acid Gorrhe soils—made up of a decomposition of granite into sand and clay—that are red in color due to oxidized iron and high levels of manganese, and which retain water well. (The plot is therefore planted with high density—8,500 vines/ha—to strike the healthiest balance of water support for each vine.) The vines are sheltered from the afternoon and evening sun, which makes this one of the domaine’s latest-ripening parcels.
Viticulture is organic and biodynamic (certified), with compost and lime treatments and cover crops. Soils are worked mechanically with manual de-budding, tying, and canopy management. This wine fermented with 20-50% whole clusters using ambient yeasts for two to three weeks, during which time it received short pump-overs twice daily. It aged for 11 months in 60-hl wood tank and was lightly filtered before bottling.
