Philippe Alliet, 2024 Update
In a ‘mopping up’ mood I recently came across these tasting notes, on the wines of the 2022 vintage, from Philippe Alliet. While the number of tasting notes is small, I feel it is worthwhile adding them to the site as they complement the tasting notes written during last year’s visit to the domaine, directly after the harvest. They also, it has to be said, provide some contrast.
The three wines tasted all hail from the 2022 vintage (I did also taste a few from the following year, already reported on in my Loire Valley 2023 First Taste report), une année solaire both in Bordeaux and the Loire Valley. After flirting with frost (there was no significant damage here in Touraine, although Muscadet and the other Nantais vineyards took a hit), the weather during late spring and summer turned warm and dry. Long-standing records for maximum temperature and minimum rainfall were broken, as the region experienced an unprecedented run of dry and hot weather through June and July including two mini-heatwaves which sent the mercury over 40ºC on two occasions. Rivers fell to low levels rarely seen, and the vines sweltered in the heat.
Thankfully a little rain in August helped, releasing those vines which had shut down – largely young vines, it has to be said – from their state of blocage. Photosynthesis resumed, and the vines continued to ripen their crop in ideal conditions. The harvest kicked off relatively early, starting during the third week of September. Yields were good, the vintage spared the ravages of frost and rampant mildew, but the crop was far from huge; dehydration on the vine brought the volume down, reinforcing the rich and concentrated nature of the vintage.
