mm mm mm Vouvray!

I just finished reading Wine and War, by Donald and Petie Kladstrup, which i will have to say is my first official wine nerd book. It details the experiences of vineyard owners and vignerons in France during the German occupation during World War II. I could write and write about the book but the reason I bring it up is because the book talks a lot about the Loire valley, and how some producers played a part in the resistance, while others, like Gaston Huet, were POWs. The Loire is one of my favorite wine making regions in France, a region that has very high quality reds and whites but yet is often sadly overlooked when people list great wine regions. While i love Cabernet Franc, what I love about the Loire the most are the wines made from Chenin Blanc. From crisp, off dry Vouvray to seriously dry, rich Savennieres, the spectrum of flavors is really amazing.
Tonight i had the pleasure of drinking a sparkling Vouvray from the producer Champalou. Sparkling Vouvray has a certain effect on me that I do not really understand. One sip and I picture myself standing in a cold, damp cellar being poured a barrel sample and I just cannot get over it. The wine tonight is not really that complex, showing lots of fresh apple and pear scents with maybe a little litchi aroma, with a lower acidity than I would have imagined. With 12% alcohol, I found myself drinking more than my fair share and not even realizing it. While i thought to myself that maybe a simple wine is a bit disappointing, sometimes the greatest achievement is not a wine that conjures a string of over-done phrases adorned with adjectives or descriptors, but a wine that is at once simple yet satisfying, and that is certainly how i would describe the Vouvray tonight. So instead of searching for complexity that may not even be there I am content with saying "mm mm mm, Vouvray."