Traveling in the Loire

2/22/19 -

The winter light in the Loire is quite magnificent, in a low key way. A grayish pearly sheen that covers the gently undulating landscape, only occasionally pierced by soft sunlight. There is something grand in the understated nature of this landscape, something quietly medieval. It was my first time visiting this corner of France, and after years of drinking the wines, I felt myself most fortunate to finally walk this hallowed soil.

The visual scenery is not too imposing, yet there is a power emanating from this paysage of gentle hills, copses, scattered vineyards and the slow rolling of the Loire river. This landscape belies an incredible complexity of terroir, producing wines which are both expressions of the humble land and people who make them, and the myriad nuances that are manifest therein. Traveling west from the Pays Nantais to Touraine, I experienced an incredible variety of wine, wine styles, and terroirs. I was fortunate to stand in some of my favorite vineyards in the world; from pruning the vines of Clisson with Marc Ollivier of Domaine de la Pepiere, to surveying the prime exposition of Les Picasses in Chinon, to seeing the beautiuful old parcel of Les Ardilles in Cheverny.

After two devastating vintages, when many producers lost the majority of their crops to either frost or mildew, tasting the 2018s was a blessing. Apart from from some mildew pressure in the spring, 2018 was a year of bounty all along the Loire, with many winemakers reporting way above average yields. Francois Pinon said he hadn't seen a vintage like this since 1989, and after close to a decade of heavy losses in the vineyard, was incredibly happy to finally be able to harvest a full crop. In 2018 Domaine Pinon will be able to make the full range of their Vouvrays, from sec to liquoreux. There were even rumors of a first Goutte d'Or since the 1990 vintage! The summer was quite hot, with the wines achieving high levels of ripeness, with high alcohol as well. Thierry Puzelat of Clos du Tue-Boeuf told us that one of his wines came back without an alcoholic percentage from the lab. When he called up to find out why, he was informed they weren't able to measure it, as their scale only goes up to 15.2%. Fortunately acidity was not sacrified for ripeness, and many wines, though quite big, remain balanced, with the intensity of their fruit and mineral expression balancing out the higher alcohol levels.

I am quite excited about the 2018 vintage in the Loire. Tasting from tank and barrel showed a vintage that should be generous and accessible quite early, but should also have great aging potential in the more noble terroirs. We have a few 2018s from Olivier Lemasson on offer today, but we'll be seeing the majority of them in the next months/years. We have some new releases from previous vintages from some of our favorite Loire winemakers, and we're excited to share those with you.

Also, in a curious twist, one of the most exciting wines I tasted at the wine fairs in the Loire was Italian: a beautiful, strange animal of a Moscato from Alessandra Bera in Piedmont. Definitely worth checking out for those looking to push the boundries. Oskar Kostecki