It’s a delight to see Boston through the eyes of first-time visitors, and even better when those visitors bring wine to share.
Antoine Veron and Pascale Veron-Lavigne are the husband-wife winemaking team at Domaine Lavigne, located near Saumur in France’s Loire Valley. He manages production up to the point that the wine goes into the bottle; she manages everything after that. Recently, the couple spent a week in the Bay State — their first trip to the US — to introduce their lovely chenin blanc and cabernet franc pours to Boston’s wine community. Veron-Lavigne couldn’t say enough about how welcome they felt.
“We were very surprised to feel so safe in this city,’’ she enthuses. “We felt just as though we were at home, due to the human dimension of the city.’’ The couple found walkable neighborhoods rather than the East Coast grittiness they were expecting. The two explored Back Bay, Chinatown, and Cambridge, and spent ample time with their importers Bob Hurley and his daughter Margot, of Cynthia Hurley French Wines.
As a third-generation winegrower, Veron-Lavigne, a native of the Loire, likes to tell the story of her grandfather, Roger Lavigne, who began with 5?acres of “vines, some cows, and some asparagus’’ on the family plot. As a self-described tomboy, she liked to help her father, Gilbert Lavigne, as he tended the vineyard. He labored throughout the 1980s to grow the property to the nearly 100-acre endeavor it is today. She met her husband-to-be while they were students at the same viticulture school. “Dad never had a son, so he acquired one,’’ she says with a laugh. “People even think he looks like his father-in-law.’’
The appellation in which the couple makes red wine — Saumur-Champigny — is ideally suited to the cabernet franc grapes they grow. Veron-Lavigne explains that Champigny in Latin means “field of fire.’’ It refers to how the day’s heat is retained by the limestone soil and reflected back to the vines in the evening. “The grape ripens and matures nearly as much during the night as during the day,’’ she explains. Located between a tributary of the Loire River and a forest, the vineyards enjoy a moderate climate that promotes softness in the wines.
That soft, lithe character is on display in a 2013 Domaine Lavigne “Les Aieules’’ Saumur-Champigny. This ruby-hued pour, crafted from old vine cabernet franc, offers red plum and berry aromas, punctuated by scents of mineral, savory spiciness, and green bell pepper notes characteristic of the varietal. The palate is pleasantly tart, with silky tannins and a whisper of floral. It’s one of the prettiest — and easiest to pair — pours around. “At our house, it can accompany every meal,’’ the winemaker says, “from fish to meat to cheeses and exotic dishes.’’
Sounds like delicious advice to us. We’ll look forward to doing the same.
Domaine Lavigne “Les Aieules’’ Saumur-Champigny 2013 (around $20) is available at Dion’s Fine Wine, Lexington St., Waltham, 781-894-1999; and Winestone, Chestnut Hill, 617-264-0393. Thanks to Margot Hurley for her translation help.
Ellen Bhang can be reached at bytheglass@globe.com.
