Excerpts from my blog:
Club des Sommeliers (Chateau de Hureau), Saumur-Champigny, Grand Reserve, 2010
Club des Sommeliers is apparently a negociant that packages wines from all over France for local supermarket consumption. And if you pay attention to the small letters on the label, you can find some amazing bargains, as I found out when I picked this up for 10 Euros at a Parisian suburb, because the label almost obscures the fact that this is a basic bottling by famous Saumur-Champigny producer Chateau du Hureau; which, coincidently, was the first Loire producer I ever tasted. And this is a charming wine, quite reminiscent of that initial Loire encounter, showing fresh red currants, that feel as though they had just been plucked off the tree, aptly framed by notes of lead pencil and a tobacco leaves. Not especially deep or complex, and arguably a little dilute before it builds up a lithe body in glass, but it's really tasty and deftly structured, once it fills out. (Apr. 8, 2013)
10 Euros. A bargain, didn't I say that already? This would be my house wine if I were living in France.
Chateau de Hureau, Saumur-Champigny, Tuffe, 2009
You can understand why I was eager for another shot at Hureau, since I loved the basic supermarket bottling. Thus, I bought this at Gordon Wines at Waltham, but the bottle was corked. So, as soon as the siege on the Chechnian terrorists was over, I went back to Waltham replace it. And my efforts were repaid in full. This has the same fresh red fruit as the supermarket bottling, the same trappings of tobacco leaves and lead pencil, only the "elegance" and "finesse" knobs have been turned up quite a few notches, and the overall effect is both purer and more focused, while at the same time more intense and pungent. Lovely. (Apr. 20, 2013)
Gordon Wines, 18 USD. Great QPR!