Loire Wine Tour with La Cucina di Terresa
Posted on October 22, 2013 by Susie Hollands
Join Terresa Murphy for a day-long visit to the home and vineyards of one of her many natural winemaker friends in the Loire Valley. The winemaker will warmly greet you at the door and invite you into their kitchen to don aprons and cook up a sumptuous, earthy lunch with fresh, seasonal produce and artisan products from the region. There’ll be time for a sip of wine on the veranda or a short stroll while lunch is on the stove.
You’ll then sit down for lunch with the winemaker who will bring to the table a selection of their natural wines talk about their farming, harvesting and vinification methods, the meaning of terroir, the importance of healthy soil, grapes and thus yeast, the balance of acidity and minerality, the terroir, the choice of no additives and “no SO2” (or very little only at bottling), and finally the “living” aspect of natural wines… Terresa will talk about pairing the lovely juice with vegetables.
Then onto their vineyards where you’ll learn a bit about tending the vines, the various soils, nurturing the precious teaming microbial life within. The effects of wind, sun, shade, rain, slope, river, woods, and the critters inhabiting them. From there to the chai to talk fermentation, taste a wine or two still in the process of “becoming,” lying still low in the barrel. You’ll leave with a deepened understanding and appreciation of natural wine and the men and women who make it. Your senses will be full of sights, sounds, tastes, smells and stories of the region, even an encounter with a gentle soul or two. Of course you’ll be welcome to purchase a bottle or three to take back to the city, uncork and enjoy.
For further information, please visit LaCucinadiTerresa.com
