Vouvray Sec
Vouvray AOC · Loire Valley, France
- 125ml
- £7.50
- 175ml
- £10
- Bottle
- £45
- Grape
- Chenin Blanc
- Vintage
- 2025
- Region
- Vouvray, Loire
The short version
The vineyard site dates to the fourth century — among the oldest vineyard land in the Loire.
Cellars cut into the chalk the vines grow on, holding 12°C all year round.
Sec means dry. Quince, beeswax and wet stone — the wine that changes minds about Vouvray.
How it tastes
Aroma & flavour
Sell it with
Salt Baked Whole Seabass, Fire Roasted Pepper & Caper Salsa
Chenin's acidity cuts the aioli and the salt crust the way a squeeze of lemon would, and the chalky, saline finish meets the fish without either side turning metallic. The trace of sugar left in the wine is what carries the caper salsa's sharpness.
Where to take them next
The detail — if they ask
Pressed slowly at low pressure with the must selected as it runs, then fermented in temperature-controlled tanks at 17–18°C for about a month. The fermentation is stopped by taste, at the point where acidity and sugar balance — so 'Sec' here means dry with a trace of sugar holding it together. Three months on the lees.
Château Moncontour
- Producer
- A vineyard site that goes back to the fourth century, when it belonged to the Archbishopric of Tours. The Feray family has owned it since 1994; the troglodyte cellars cut into the rock also house a wine museum.
- Region
- Vouvray sits on tuffeau — soft Turonian chalk — under clay and wind-blown silt, with the Loire itself regulating the temperature. The same rock is quarried into cellars that hold a constant 12°C all year.
- Grapes
- Chenin Blanc is the Loire's chameleon. The same grape in the same village makes dry, off-dry, sweet and sparkling wine — the style is a decision about when to stop the fermentation, not a different variety. What stays constant is the acidity.
'Sec' means dry, and it is worth saying out loud — most guests associate Vouvray with sweetness.