Importer Kermit Lynch was one of the first Americans to tramp the backroads of France’s wine country, knocking on doors and tasting in cellars that had never admitted an outsider before. His wonderful 1988 book, Adventures on the Wine Route, was instrumental in shaping my own idea of what constituted quality and proportion in wine and had made me deeply skeptical of the alternative view being presented by Robert Parker Jr’s quarterly Wine Advocate, then just coming into its own.
But there’s another reason I’m so fond of Lynch’s memoir. It concerns being seated next to Prince Philippe Poniatowski at a wine dinner in Cambridge when I was just starting out in wine writing. Poniatowski was of the old Polish nobility, a slim, tweed-suited, debonair 70-something at the time. The prospect of having to make conversation with such a distinguished person for an entire evening made me rather nervous. He was sociable enough and his English was impeccable — but what, I wondered, would we chat about?
Poniatowski’s historic estate was in Vouvray, and it popped into my head that Lynch had devoted an entire chapter of his book to a particularly colorful character there: a wine broker known as Père Loyau. I dropped the name. Yes, the prince knew him well, seemed surprised that I was acquainted with him (I never said how), and proceeded to regale me with several marvelous anecdotes about the old man. Loyau had still been active at age 100, he said.
The vintner-prince and I went on to have a lively and, for me, memorable chat. The night flew by. It didn’t hurt that I knew a Poniatowski had accompanied Napoleon on the disastrous Russian campaign of 1812 (and had the presence of mind to sneak it into the convo). That’s a youthful Kermit Lynch with Loyau in an undated photo, above.
The historic Poniatowski estate, was eventually sold to François Chidaine – an icon of Loire Valley winemaking in his own right — and we’re pleased to have an outstanding example of the dreamy, complex wine Chidaine makes from its Chenin Blanc fruit, Le Bouchet, on our shelves. But you won’t see Vouvray on the label. The reason: Chidaine’s chais, where the wine is made, lies across the Loire in the township of Montlouis – and thus the wine is no longer entitled to the Vouvray designation – even though that’s what it is. What would the late Prince think of that, I wonder?
If I could have the pleasure of another supper with him, you can be sure I’d ask. -Stephen Meuse
Taste five Kermit Lynch wines (plus Le Bouchet) this week in the FKC wine corner . . . THURSDAY, APRIL 18 3-6 PM – COLORFUL CHARACTERS
- NV Patrick Bottex, Bugey-Cerdon Sparkling Rosé “La Cueille,” $24.95
- 2017 Domaine de la Chanteleuserie, Bourgueil “Les Alouettes,” $18.95
- 2016 Domaine Gramenon, Côtes du Rhône “Poignée De Raisins,” $28.95
FRIDAY, APRIL 19 3-6 PM – WE KNOW IT’S YOU, VOUVRAY
- 2018 François Chidaine Vin de France “Le Bouchet,” $29.95
- 2017 Punta Crena, Riviera Ligure di Ponente Rossese, $23.95
- 2015 Mas Champart, Saint-Chinian, $23.95