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.

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