François Chidaine, 2017 Update
In this latest meeting with François Chidaine, the inevitable focus was the 2016 vintage, a year in which François has managed to pull from his vineyards a very small portfolio of wines to sell. After which we moved on to look at the 2015 vintage, as well as a couple of cuvées from 2009. Before all that, though, we kicked off with a fascinating pair of sparkling wines.
The Wines
The first of this pair was the 2015 (although the vintage isn’t declared on the label) Montlouis-sur-Loire Méthode Traditionnelle, disgorged slightly before its time in order to check in on its progress; alongside this François poured, for comparison, the corresponding 2005 (here the vintage is declared) Méthode Traditionnelle, which was disgorged only two years ago, after a remarkable ten years sur lattes. The freshness and vivacity in the younger vintage came as no surprise, but I was astounded by the vivacity displayed by the twelve-year old wine, proof – if any were needed – of the preservative capabilities of the lees.
Then it was onto the 2016 vintage, one of two recent vintages in the Loire Valley (the other being 2017) which have been badly hit by frost. Which regions and appellations were affected in the two vintages differs, but in 2016 Montlouis-sur-Loire and Vouvray, the latter to a lesser extent I think, were severely affected. This has had a significant effect on François Chidaine’s 2016 portfolio, reduced to just five home-grown wines, and one Vin de France made using Chenin Blanc purchased from vineyards in the south of France. I have already published my opinion on this wine, as well as the 2016 Touraine Sauvignon in my Loire 2016 report, leaving just four wines to look at here.
Despite this catastrophic start to the vintage, the weather during the closing stages of the 2016 growing season was more benevolent than you might imagine, and as a consequence the wines are low in terms of volume, but high in quality.
