QUINCY

The tasting room at Villa Quincy

Although nearby Sancerre gets many wine visitors each year, most people drive past Quincy without a second thought, which is a shame as it is worth at least a quick visit and a tasting.   Quincy has been one of my favourite white wines for about ten years but I too had never visited it until last month.   With a weekend to kill in Bourges, I at last made the 20 km trip on the D2076 road.

Quincy was, surprisingly considering its status today, the second ever appellation created after Chateauneuf-du-Pape, in 1936.  Apparently it has been known as a wine area since the twelfth century.  The soil is mainly sandy gravel with some flint on top of clay and chalk.   It only produces white wines and it only uses one varietal – Sauvignon Blanc.  It is in the Loire Valley just west of the cathedral city of Bourges and south of Vierzon.  It has another small neighbouring appellation in Reuilly which you can visit on the same trip.

The centre of Quincy village

A chateau in Quincy

The village itself is small but does boast a relatively new small wine museum and tasting room at the Villa Quincy in the centre of the village and open from April to December except on Tuesdays.   There is a small fee of three euros for the museum and tasting.  This is well worth a visit, although the first wine they offered us was the one by Jean-Charles Borgnat that is available in the UK at Majestic!   There is a great selection of wines to buy including those by the better producers such as Tatin and Wilk.    The tasting room won’t tell you the best wines but they will point out those that are minerally or fruity or floral according to your taste.   It is interesting to try and buy a few different ones and understand the difference that subtly different terroir and wine making can bring to the taste of wine.  The Villa Quincy also sells the wines of neighbouring Reuilly and local products such as honey.

Bruno Lecomte quincy

Quincy wines vary from rather basic Sauvignon Plonk to some that rival the more famous Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé, but are usually cheaper at under ten euro.  They are always very dry and often taste of refreshing grapefruit to my taste buds, but you might recognize this as gooseberry.  Overall I find the above average Quincy as very appealing and it makes a nice aperitif wine or something to go with Rabbit Terrine, Chicken, Fish or Goat Cheese.  An earlier blog post describes even how I enjoyed one with a steak!

The Bruno Lecomte wine pictured here is one of the ones I bought at Villa Quincy. Tasted it the other night and it was rather good – lovely bouquet and taste with grapefruit to the fore with a hint of rustic goats cheese in the background.  Fruity but some complexity and high refreshment factor – a good Sauvignon Blanc.  

A fine bottle of Quincy

An attractive bottle of Quincy

Museum Exhibit