Anjou, a region in the Middle Loire Valley in France, produces wines that were the absolute favorite of D’Artagnan the Gascon, the so-called 4th musketeer. Throughout Alexandre Dumas’s saga beginning with “The Three Musketeers” and ending with “The Man in the Iron Mask” the white wines are vaunted and revered.
The 2nd episode of Season 7 of Glass in Session® explores the wines of Anjou, the wine styles the 17th century musketeers might have been drinking, and a small side trip into why, potentially, Alexandre Dumas wrote with such specificity in naming the regional wines in his works.
Why it’s a Cool Topic
Between the end of Season 5 through the beginning of Season 6 of the Glass in Session® Winecast I lost my ability to speak. Sometimes I could squeak out some sounds, other times not at all. Clearly this is not an ideal situation for someone who loves to talk uses their voice for work as well as podcasting.
By the middle of Season 6 I suspended the show as I was entering therapy. During those weeks I took my therapy very seriously. I gave myself much quiet time, spent with water colors and listening to audio books. The literary genius of Alexandre Dumas sucked me in.
I had to wonder about Dumas’ research and writing process, and how much he really knew about wine of different regions and countries. One of his greatest works was a Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine (Great Dictionary of Cuisine), was published in 1873, posthumously.
It turns out that Dumas was a tremendous foodie and gourmand. It makes sense that this could translate to evidence of a wine enthusiast throughout his works.
Dumas Weaves Regional Wine Throughout his Works
From the Count of Monte Cristo to all five or six volumes (depending on your edition or translation) of The Three Musketeers saga, Mr. Dumas often mentioned regional wines throughout his stories.
They tossed back the wines of Frascati quite liberally events in Rome played out. Frascati is a white wine named for a city just outside of Rome. Historically Malvasia-based, it now can have up to 30 % Trebbiano.
The Three Musketeers the musketeers washed down their indulgent feasts with Anjou, Bordeaux, Champagne, Burgundy, and Volnay, in particular. They also fancied wines from Spain & Beaugency. Beaugency is a town in the Upper Loire which now lies at the western edge of the very small Orléans appellation, created quite recently as of 2006.
Yet in the 1600s, under the reigns the 13th & 14th Louis(es), wines looked a lot different. I zeroed in on the main character of D’Artagnan, the so-called 4th musketeer, who hailed from Gascony.
The Gascon – or 4th Musketeer – Loves Him Some Anjou!
I’m a fan if wines from the French Basque region whence D’Artagnan hails, however D’Artagnan’s favorite wine ever was actually from Anjou from the Loire Valley!
“D’Artagnan was pleased that the grocer had drawn from behind the fagots a bottle of that Anjou wine which during all his life had been D’Artagnan’s favorite wine.“
(Dumas, A., Ten Years Later, 1847)
Anjou is once again vaunted and revered in Louise de la Valierre. By the last Volume, The Man in the Iron Mask, we are reminded once again about D’Artagnan’s love for Anjou wines.
My wines of Anjou, selected for Athos, who liked them formerly; my wines of Burgundy, Champagne, Bordeaux, and Spain, stocking eight cellars and twelve vaults in my various houses.
(Dumas, A., The Man in the Iron Mask, 1847)
From Volumes of Musketeer Romances to the Podcast of Season 7, Episode 2 on Anjou
Since embarking on this literary journey during the loss of my voice, I’ll forever associate the wines of Anjou with the with Dumas’s musketeers. In Season 7, Episode 2 of Glass in Session® I admit to crushing pretty hard on D’Artagnan. Like me, he was a lover Anjou wine … and he was the quintessential smart-ass.
Listen as I walk through the Anjou region, wine styles, and discuss the impact of the Dutch Wine Trade on what it was D’Artagnan would have most likely drinking during his swashbuckling days.
Resources from this episode:
Books:
French Wine Scholar Study Manual, 5th Edition, Wine Scholar Guild (2015)
Oxford Companion to Wine, 4th Edition, Robinson, J. and Harding, J. (2015)
Wine Bible, 2nd Edition, MacNeil, K. (2015)
World Atlas of Wine, 7th Edition, Johnson, H., and Robinson, J. (2013)
Websites:
Federation Viticole: Cahier des Charges Anjou 2016 https://federationviticole.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/CDC_Anjou_2016.pdf
Loire Valley Wine: Anjou https://loirevalleywine.com/appellation/anjou/
Paris Review: Cooking with Alexandre Dumas, Stivers, V. (2018) https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/03/16/cooking-with-alexandre-dumas/
Podcasts:
Glass in Session®: S2E2: Behind Botrytis – Beautiful Wines from Ugly Grapes https://glassinsession.libsyn.com/s2e2-behind-botrytis-beautiful-wines-from-ugly-grapes
Glass in Session®: S5E1: A Pét-Nat Chit-Chat https://glassinsession.libsyn.com/s5e1-a-pt-nat-chit-chat
