I am signing off from Winedoctor updates for a few weeks, as later today I head out to the Loire Valley for a combined trip, comprising visits and tastings, no doubt some heavy-duty gardening and DIY as I try to keep my little house going, and – hopefully – some moments of rest and recuperation.

And like last year I will be running in the Trail de Sancerre too, 15 kilometres up and down the slopes of Sancerre. Last year I did this in temperatures that peaked at 30°C, requiring some serious post-run rehydration (as pictured below). Fingers crossed for cooler weather, stronger legs and an improved time this year.

No doubt I will also be checking out some vineyards. Below is a photograph taken almost exactly one year ago today, on June 3rd 2025, showing tiny new grapes in Chinon.

I expect to see vines even more advanced than this over the next few weeks, the vines having raced ahead of schedule this year, even ahead of 2025, in response to warm and favourable conditions. If the weather continues in this style we will have an early vintage on our hands. And one potentially more conducive to the red varieties than the whites, not for the first time in recent years. We shall see. In the meantime, I will be focusing on tasting through the 2025 and 2024 vintages, adding to my body of tasting notes for publication on Winedoctor.

I will continue adding images to Instagram, now and again. Otherwise normal service will resume here on Winedoctor at the end of the month.