There are few pairings more compelling than goat cheese and Sancerre , and few wine regions more swoon-worthy than France's Loire Valley. I almost died with excitement when I was invited by the Loire Valley Wine Bureau on a whirlwind tour of this most diverse wine region. Arguably the pinnacle of Sauvignon Blanc, Sancerre combines bracing acidity with an underpinning of richness. And Sancerre alongside the tart creaminess of the local goat cheese is a textbook example of the food and wine of a region complimenting each other to perfection.
If it wasn't enough to be in Sancerre, we had lunch in the Maison des Sancerre and were presented with the array of goat cheese of varying ages, pictured at the top. (And I really had cheese knife envy; would love to have this blade to cut, with surgical precision, wedge after wedge of goat cheese.) There was also some fantastic bread, intriguingly baked around a stick:
After lunch we took a quick stroll through the town. I was charmed by the streets, the shutters, and the signage. (Especially the pig atop the charcuterie; wish I got a close-up of that.)
Full of cheese and Sancerre, we were then accompanied by Matthieu Delaporte of Domaine Vincent Delaporte to the highest reaches of the vineyards, where we stopped to soak in the view and, naturally, soak in a glass of Sancerre.
Our day ended in a tiny, low-ceilinged cave, where we were joined by Matthieu's father, Jean-Yves, and treated to some seriously older bottles of Sancerre. I then had to be forcibly boarded onto our awaiting van, regretting not asking if I could rent out that space for the summer in anticipation of more informal gatherings of friends, Sancerre, and goat cheese.
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