We stopped for lunch in St Lambert sur Lattay at a little shop/chambre d'hote/restaurant that has recently opened in the village. Lunch was simple but really tasty and at 14€ a head was good value for money. We had a homemade terrine served with dressed salad leaves and onion marmalade, a pan fried steak with creamed cabbage, potato croquettes and a beetroot preserve, and for dessert a pancake with salted butter caramel sauce and creme chantilly. Run by a husband a wife team the welcome was warm and the wines local (a range from Pithon-Paillé & Pierre Chauvin - both just round the corner from them.
Situated just outside the village of Rablay sur Layon, Domaine des Sablonnettes is a small estate run by Christine, Joêl and Jérémy Ménard. We called in yesterday for a tasting - they have a large range but two wines stuck out for us that are a bit offbeat and unusual.
The tasting room at Domaine des Sablonnettes
Le Quart d'Heure Ange Vin is a rosé made from passerillé grapes - different in colour to most rosés it has a tawny port appearance and lovely aromas of of sultanas and fruit cake. It has 60-70g of residual sugar and would make a nice apero. A new introduction along the same theme is a red produced from over-ripe Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. This one undergoes a carbonic maceration and has the same amount of residual sugar on the palate. It has attractive blackcurrant leaf aromas and would be excellent served with a bitter chocolate tart. It's light in style and retains enough acidity to keep it fresh.
