The Wine of Anjou
 

Anjou is currently one of the most vibrant wine areas in France.  No longer regarded as a region of cheap rosé and over-sulfured whites.  The demise of the love affair with rosé caused a revaluation of the area’s wine -producing abilities and a new generation of winemakers have rediscovered the habit of making great white wines while the relatively new red appellations are now making superb progress with many award winning wines being produced, ranging from elegant, ‘taffeta’ wines to great, new-world type blockbusters.  The rosé is still here of course but the rosé in the region has always been much better than the great tidal wave of cheaply produced plonk which flooded the markets of  Northern Europe  and America in the sixties and seventies.

“La Perriére” is located in the sub-region known as the Coteaux du Layon which is also the name of a appellation for superb sweet wine, which, in my own and in the opinion of many  wine writers, is amongst the great sweet wines of the world.  And for a  price a Sauterne producer would laugh  at.

THE FUTURE
Anjou is one of the few wine regions in France where exports of wine are increasing  and whilst not without its problems, it is clear that the vast potential of its vineyards will ensure its future, at a time when the wine industry in general is becoming more and more competetive.  Perhaps it is indicitive that when the famous movie star, Gerard
Depardieu was looking for somewhere to produce wine he chose Anjou, in a village not far from La Perriéré, Tigné.  He explained that he thought the potential in Anjou  was the greatest in France.

THE GRAPES

The production of wine in Anjou relies almost entirely on Chenin plus some Chardonnay  for  white wine and Cabernet Franc plus some Cabernet Sauvignon and Grollou  for the reds and  rosés.

The great white’s are almost all  100% Chenin. Not an easy  grape to handle, Chenin nevertheless is capable of producing, in the experienced hands of the vigerons of Anjou, some of the greatest dry  and sweet wines in the world.  Whites have been made in Anjou for centuries and therefore it is not surprising that the habit of making superb wine was easily  rediscovered after Anjou’s almost obsessive flirtation with rosés was over  The reds are, surprisingly, relatively new, and are still in a settling down process with the effect that the aficionado of Anjou  reds can find a whole range of tastes and styles to satisfy their palettes.    

 The Main Appellations of Anjou

·          Anjou Rouge
·          Anjou Village
·          Anjou Village-Brissac
·          Anjou-Gamay
·          Anjou Blanc
·          Coteaux du Layon
·          Coteaux du Layon-Village
·          “Grand Cru” appellations of Coteaux du Layon: Bonnezeaux and Quarts de Chaume
·          Savennières
·          Coteaux de l’Aubance
·          Rosé d’Anjou
·          Cabernet d’Anjou
·          Rosé de la Loire

plus Vins du Paye for  Chardonnay, Sauvingnon Blanc

A VERY BRIEF HISTORY

Wine has been made since before Roman times. Vineyards have come and gone and been restarted again, normally by the Church.  Anjou has gone through civil wars, religious wars, devastation by disease, obsessions with hybrid grapes, (and practically a full scale insurrection when the authorities tried to get rid of them), and times of abject poverty with vigerons getting off the land as quickly as possible.  And all this in a region known throughout France for the “douceur Angevine”- the sweetness  and gentleness of life in Anjou!