[Music] hello everybody my name is jimmy smith and welcome to the wine with jimmy channel and welcome to one of these uh extra sessions here on understanding a level three wsct topic this is understanding the loan valley for the wset level three and this is our first part this is the introduction to the loire valley a lovely overview understanding general climate some minor microclimates and then we're going to look at the first part the melon blanc shaping the muscade wines of the penintes area so this is a very useful session we'll go through a working written question as ever at the end of this session and if you have any comments questions or concerns please do get in touch via the social media at the bottom or pop in a comment underneath this video on youtube this one will be a free video the next couple of parts for the loire valley that's parts two and three are available only on the wine with jimmy e learning portal which you can go and subscribe to for access to exclusive member content more multiple choice questions revision sessions flash cards and so on there's over now 10 hours of content extra members content there and part four central vineyards is already live so that's um you can view as well on the central vineyards and sauvignon blanc okay that is uh chateau chambord one of the most beautiful and striking castles of the loire valley and remember there are so many of these gorgeous castles that litter the loire valley the loire river and the region there are over 300 in the central area which is all considered a unesco world heritage site it is rather splendid and beautiful okay so let's get rocking and rolling let's go to our first slide so we're gonna go and do a brilliant um wonderful um overview of the loire valley here so you can get a good idea of this area so we've got this annotated map which i have split into the four classic sections of the loire river the loire is actually france's longest river it goes for 1012 kilometers starting its life off in the rome department in the south south central france as it meanders its way um from higher altitude down towards never to only and then turns towards the atlantic here we're looking at this lower part of the loire which pretty much incorporates near the central vineyards here the one of the largest expressions here and then finally the pais nante which is the area we'll be focusing on exclusively on this part so we split it into those four zones that's classic lower valley structure you'll notice that i've also identified a um an outcrop of some hills here called the moish hills the marsh hills are important because they do uh create a very specific micro climate within the onjoussamer area so let's go through all of these so first of all this first section on your left hand side this first section on your left hand side is called the pay non-day so let's underline that because we can here we go so just down here it says pain on day you won't need to know all of these little annotated bits i'm going to go through what you need later it's really only a small section that you'll need to understand for the wsct level three but here because it's next to the atlantic we call this a maritime climate and it's cool all of the loire valley you would consider cool so the average growing temperature um during the growing season is below 16.5 degrees celsius normally and so cool maritime in this area around the city of not and that is your muscaday zone as we go to the next section this is the area called and then also to rain are both cool again they're all cooled across the royal valley but you would say it's cool maritime in some parts and mainly in anjou and then cool continental as it heads towards terrain as you're heading more inland towards central france but you'll notice here that i've put some little um a little bit of wording below that giant blue arrow so here i've identified for you that you have a warmer and drier zone in and then you have the cooler and wetter in terrain now this seems immediately counter intuitive because you think well anju summer is closer to the sea so surely it has more rain due to the rain shadow effect of the moist hills um it actually keeps it protected so the area of on zhu tends to be a little bit drier due to that protection of those hills and just a little smidgen warmer the soils here are also um darker you have this kind of dark and blacker schistus soils and that tends to add to a bit more warmth for this area as well so it's interesting now if you go across to this large expanse here which we know is as terrain whereas it's buffered that along the lower here you will you'll start to get a bit more rainfall in this zone so it's a bit more cooler and a bit more wetter really hence why for the most part a lot of the wines of terrain tend to be a little bit more simpler a little bit lighter certainly the terrain yellow area there the aoc of terrain and then the top one here is uh on the right hand side here cool continental this one is for the central vineyards which is for the level 3 certificate so purely continental but still quite cool and can still have some rainfall in that zone okay now we're going to talk about the major great varieties across these areas what we will talk about later is melon blanc it's a great variety that really does exist quite well in this cool area affected by the rainfall it's uh it's frost resistant um so melon blanc is the great variety of de pei nante another green grape variety is shenan blanc which finds itself at home in onju summer and terrain making things like enjoy saving and then in the central vineyards you have sauvignon blanc i've i've i've shortened that down because i couldn't fit it in but sauvignon blanc is famous of course in mene tu salon sonste and pui fume so there is definitely wonderful segments we can really start to cut apartmentalize all of these different great varieties in certain zones and that's the same for the red grape varieties at the bottom of your screen here you'll see cabernet franc gamay um you could also throw goliath in the mixture here as well we find cabernet franc and gamay grown mostly around the orange juice and terrain area where it makes a mixture of roses um but some quite classic fragrant and interesting reds as well in that area and then finally in the central vineyards area you have pinot noir which makes songs manitou salon rouge and you find small percentages there an area which is quite close to burgundy so you know that there's an influence from there and that's the influence of pinot noir so that's quite a really nice um a really nice slide to summarize as an overview of the loire valley for what you need to know for your wsct level three it's quite worth probably pausing it here now and getting a good idea of that and sort of sort of structuring it like this okay great so we are going to talk a little bit about um some um some of the climate uh problems now so the weather issues of this area um and we've talked about the um the the sections climate that goes from cool maritime to cool continental now due to the fact that it is a cool area there is inconsistencies between the years so annual differences will create vintage variation so you will find some vintages being better than others due to better conditions within the vineyard so vintage variation certainly happens in this region also because it is within the gulf stream and the gulf stream is what comes across the atlantic that warmer wetter weather it will affect many parts along here in fact a lot of its channel along the loire as it heads its way towards the paris basin and then goes north and goes across normandy or goes in towards belgium and those kind of areas higher rainfall levels here can cause issues of course you can have problems in some instances with rot um but really mentioned quite a lot in your text is around the fungal problems that we find and the fungal problems are things such as powdery and downy mildew i'm not sure if that's what comes up next no but it's a powdery downy mildew which are things that uh uh are caused by these kind of warmer wetter conditions and they are non-systematic so they don't always occur but they occur due to the weather pattern so they may be slightly more dominant in certain years that's what creates a more difficult year for instance and creates that vintage variation and there are years that you may need to combat against it um you know and spray and things like that so there are fungal issues where mildew can be a significant factor and spring frosts can be an issue certainly in more continental zones so pretty much i think beyond the moorish hills so in ange summer terrain and the central vineyards you will find that frost is a big issue i think frost is less of an issue in muscaday due to the wonderful aeration that comes across from the atlantic but and also melon blanc is quite quite resistant it buds later but of course in areas where there's shenan blanc and sauvignon blanc you will find that frosts are an issue and certainly areas like uh mon louis uh terrain uh and onju have had significant frosts in recent times so certainly big issues frosts um the best sites then to really maximize the capability of the landscape would be on your mid slopes with mainly a southerly aspect and close to water close to the heat that is trapped in the rivers but also the um the warmth and the reflection from the river as well now the loire is our big river here but there are many other tributes that run into the water you have things like the leon you have things like the lua there is another river called the loire without an e on the end that runs into it at anger and all of these um add more capability of warmth because they've got that warmth water which absorbs the warmth during late autumn and elongates the the year enabling more warmer and longer conditions in the vineyard the mid slopes are important because of drainage of course it's rainy rainy here so the mid slopes are good at drainage but they don't drain everything so it's good at keeping a bit of the water and southerly aspect is good for more solar radiation it's better to ripen your grapes of course um with a southerly aspect in these very cold zones okay so they're your best best sites the specific area that we will focus on before doing some questions is the pay non pays this is on our westerly side this is where the loire river runs through the city of not and then empties into the atlantic ocean really there's a few things here but um you don't need to know anything around the fifendian or the other submuscade it's just two areas here the first one is um the big expansive yellow area on that map which is called muscade so that's your aoc muscularis this is the widest area but it is not the biggest and often making the simplest of wines then you have aoc muscade sevres the sevre and the main are two smaller rivers that run into the loire at this point um so that green area on the map is where those two rivers run into the war and that's where this subzone is it actually makes 75 of the whole of muscaday's production so it doesn't look like it on the map but there's a quite a concentration and quite high density plantation here so therefore producing the biggest but interestingly some of the best so often biggest often doesn't mean best in wine production but it does in this instance um generally the wines of all musk a day will be dry and that's important because muscardae looks like the grape variety musk cats and muscat can be dry to sweet and many people get that confused but muscade is a complete separate grape variety in fact it is called they're trying to call it melon blanc more today to really um really cause that difference between muskets and move people away from thinking that it's muscat very high in acidity low to medium alcohol the maximum by the law is 12 alcohol by volume for generic muscadase um and most of them sit at 11 11.5 so they tend to be low to medium alcohol high in acidity and dry in style and traditionally the wines would have been made in very old um neutral barrels which wouldn't impart any flavor slight oxidation possible but they won't actually be made for or age long in them but today to keep them as pure and reductive uh non-oxidative as possible concrete which is inert uh because of the epoxy lined resin and stainless steel will be used here to produce the most purest and freshest expression of this area and we will talk a bit about sir lee as well i think that's coming up on probably your next slide oh well i'll talk about it now and of course on labels you will see uh and i'll write this down here it's something i've kind of um i've not popped down here i think i do i'm supposed to talk about on the next one but i'll pop it here as well go up a bit next to several main because it has to be on these labels okay and this is something sir lee which is very useful for you to watch the lee's aging video that we have on the youtube channel which goes into this in greater detail but sir lee means on the leaves the leaves are the spent dead yeast cells and once that fermentation has complete then the yeast forms the sediment you can uh immediately separate from the sediment if you wish um but you can keep it in contact with the leaves there are three reasons why you possibly would want to do this lee's aging one is to create a counterpoint to the high acidity so create some balance number two is to create some texture because monoproteins are given off from the yeast into the wine and it adds more roundness and texture and three is for flavor and aroma that is biscuit bread toasty sort of characteristics um point three normally only happens with extensive amounts of lee's contact here with muscade severe in maine this is just the winter on its leaves november to march time so this is really to mitigate acidity and potentially give some texture although it's not often that great the great variety is melon blanc as i mentioned you would be fine in saying that this is uh muscade muscade is made from the muscade grape but they are trying to to get people to call it melon blanc its full name actually is melon de bourgoin and that's because it hails from burgundy originally they're trying not to call it melon de bourgoin because that offers confusion of course of burgundy we're not in burgundy here and i try not to call it muscade because it has connotations that it's a muscat great variety so they're calling it melon blanc the white melon variety and it's a very early ripening variety which is perfect in a cool climate like this and it's late budding and frost resistant so it means it doesn't really run too much of a risk of frost it has characteristics that are normally quite subtle green fruits so things like green apple and pear but you will find citrus notes like lemon i often find little hints of white flowers maybe elderflower which is in that picture or jasmine and a little bit of fennel i find that little hint of green aniseed i quite like the fat that has very high acids so you often find a briny minerality behind it due to the intensity of its acidities as well okay so that's melon blanc now let's go through some questions and then that will wrap us up for this session so this is on the lower valley name a risk associated with weather in the loire valley and describe why it is a problem in the vineyard the number one risk they want you to really think about here is rainfall due to the gulf stream okay so rainfall is a problem as it can cause fungal diseases so it can cause problems with fungal diseases so that will get you a mark such as powdering down in mildew another mark and that can affect the green parts of the vine including the grapes another mark because we're talking about why it's a problem if the grapes are affected they lose their fruity flavor and give the wine a moldy bitter tate another mark so that will give you easily there four marks you'll get a mark for the rainfall but the the answer i've given you is enough to really give you five marks so you're covering your bases with that answer quite nicely um you've got a label here of a muscade severe main circle named the great variety or great varieties in this wine this of course is you'd be fine saying muscaday you'll be fine saying melon blanc or melon de bourgoin but i reckon if you want to curry favor with the examiner call it melon blanc that's what they really want you to call it so try and get used to that and i used to remember the famous three white grape varieties of the loire melon blanche blanc sauvignon blanc that's how i used to remember it it doesn't work so well if you go muska day shannon blanc sauvignon blanc so melon blanc is is the best one i think to go for what is the climate of the region uh where this wine is produced so we of course on the estuary of the loire river as it meets the atlantic uh around the city of not so we are looking here uh for two marks we are looking at saying cool that's one mark maritime is your second mark so a warmth indicator cool and then a macro climate which is maritime and that will get you your marks okay name two reasons why this great variety is well suited to the region two marks here so it ripens early and it is frost resistant due to later budding ripening early because it generally isn't the longest seasons because it's quite cool and frost resistance um is not the most important because there is really good airflow here um and there is there are some early spring frosts but they are not as dominant as in areas around anjou and terrain as they are less airflow affected those areas describe what this wine is likely to taste like and often you will find that we talk about these examination questions with factors influencing style we've been talking a lot about factors and climate and weather let's talk about the style now and for five marks this wine will be dry that's one mark high in acidity two marks with low to medium alcohol three marks with subtle green flavors four marks as the wine has spent the winter on the leaves it may have more roundness and texture five marks that will get you your five marks there you have identified the wine as a muscadis and then you've identified the terminology sir lee in your answer so hopefully that is quite clear to you excellent so that finishes the loire valley session part one i hope you've enjoyed that annotation of those maps and i hope it's been nice and clear and very distinct for you so you can understand and comprehend remember these are all about understanding to give you confidence to answer questions with the level three certificate and examination so my name's been jimmy smith next time you are in london please come and look us up come for a glass um a class or a bottle i've got it mixed up that time around i wasn't really thinking about it should really say a class a glass or a bottle but please do come and see us we have our two wine schools a wine bar and take care of yourselves happy revision happy studying see you soon goodbye hello