François Chidaine, 2023 Update
François Chidaine is undeniably one of the most renowned vignerons in the Montlouis-sur-Loire appellation, and arguably one of the best known in the entire Loire Valley. When I head out to the Loire I habitually make a point of stopping off to taste with François or, in recent years, sometimes his daughter Alice.
Travel restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic naturally saw this otherwise regular event in my tasting calendar disappear. As well as just about every other regular tasting event, of course. And while during the course of 2022 I returned several times to the Loire, my re-acquaintance with François’ wines has been rather stuttering.
The 2022 Salon des Vins de Loire, during which I intended to meet up with François (pictured) and his team, was cancelled. And the new Salon des Vins de Loire, reinvented as a more low-key event, is a pale shadow of its former self. François Chidaine, like many of the region’s leading vignerons, chose to stay away.
To some extent I don’t blame him.
That leaves me with a handful of notes on wines I tasted with Alice Chidaine back in early 2022. While they are a little dated, they still have value, and so in this very brief report I bring them out into the limelight. While you peruse them, I will have to see what opportunity there will be to taste with François later in the year.
The Wines
I tasted this quartet of cuvées with Alice at the Salon Saint Jean in Angers in 2022. We started with a couple of dry wines from the 2020 vintage, which as many readers will already know was a particularly warm and dry year. I think this character comes through in the structures of the 2020 Clos du Breil and 2020 Les Choisilles, both of which present a rather supple and textured body, combined with rather soft acidities. What frame they possess comes from the rich phenolics of the vintage, and they don’t display the usual tension or drive I expect chez Chidaine. If I preferred one it was the latter, which did impress with its fragrantly pure and floral fruit.
