As those signed up to (and who read!) my weekly mailshots will know, I am currently out in the Loire Valley for a few weeks, partly taking a break from Winedoctor, and partly preparing my house and garden here for winter. And, of course, I have taken a look at the harvest and already been able to taste some 2023 juice and wine (as if I could resist!).

The majority of the Loire Valley’s vignerons have already finished picking, certainly for the white, early-ripening varieties and dry styles, anyway. Looking first to Muscadet, I spoke to Vincent Lieubeau of Famille Lieubeau a week or two ago and they had finished their Melon de Bourgogne mid-September, closely followed by their other whites. Up in the Central Vineyards, however, they were still picking. Loïc Cailbourdin only had a few days left to do at the time though, so I am sure he has now long finished. Both reported satisfaction with quality and quantity this year, and I suspect this will be a consistent feature of the vintage in all regions of the Loire Valley.

Looking to Chenin Blanc, I was up in Vouvray last week to call in on Vincent Carême (pictured below) who was set to finish picking on October 3rd, but in the end finished on the day I visited, October 4th – so I was just too late to help with the back-breaking work of picking the grapes – what a pity! Vincent had a little rain before the harvest which created a little rot, and risked diluting the juice, so he picked and sorted the rot (keeping a little with good botrytis, discarding the rest) before then picking everything else.

After making sweet wines in 2022, and after the rain, he has picked everything for sparkling and dry, and feels most in Vouvray will do the same. He knows of one other domaine which sorted the rot on the vine, and may therefore go on to make some sweet wine, but that info needs to be verified before I mention the domaine’s name (so you might be able to work out which domaine it is). Importantly, like his peers in other appellations, Vincent is happy with quantity and quality. “There was no dilution in the end, and my vats and barrels are all full,” he concluded.

Around Chinon, meanwhile, many of the vineyards I have passed during the course of the past week were still laden with fruit, but they are now being picked. As in Vouvray, the quantity of the crop looks to be potentially magnificent (just as was suggested when I was checking out vineyards in Chinon immediately after flowering, back in May). Fingers crossed for quality, but it seems to me the potential is high. I checked out the harvest on the south-facing slope of the Clos de l’Echo last Friday. With the morning mists over the Vienne behind the sunlit Tour de l’Horloge, it was quite magical; I was thankful for being there.

The weather for the harvest has been very good; the past ten days have been very warm and dry, cool or even cold in the morning (I had to scrape ice off the windscreen of the car before heading to the Clos de l’Echo last Friday) but usually warming up into the mid/high-20s by the afternoon. There has been no rain, with none forecast in where I am in Touraine until the weekend. It is occasionally breezy, which adds to the feeling of morning freshness.

As for Anjou, I suspect some will be hanging on for botrytis – with breezy, cooler but dry weather forecast after the weekend’s rain, it could be a good year for botrytis. Maybe I should head down to Anjou to see for myself?