Domaine des Herbauges, 2021 Update
It is always exciting to taste the first releases of any new vintage, and in the Loire Valley those first tastes almost always concern Muscadet. It didn’t seem likely that I would be tasting many this year though, with travel prohibited and tastings cancelled, so I am grateful to Jérôme Choblet of Domaine des Herbauges for sending me a half-dozen samples of the 2020 vintage, all drawn from cuve and whisked by international carrier to my address in Scotland.
For the past six or seven years I have met up with Jérôme every January, in order to taste his latest releases. It provides not only an informative view of his wines, but also of how the vintage panned out across the region as a whole. If I were allowed only one word to describe the domaine and its wines, it would be consistency. Year-in, year-out, in vintages strong or weak, Jérôme turns out a handsome range of wines imbued with plump white fruits and an undeniable sense of freshness. This is as true of the domaine in 2020 as it is in any other vintage.
To my surprise (because I generally find the region’s Muscadets superior to its IGP wines), I was immediately taken with the 2020 Moulin d’Argent Chardonnay, with its peachy-chalky fruit. I think it had more going for it than the 2020 Classic, the entry-level Muscadet, which came on strong with a minty note, a trait evident in a number of Jérôme’s wines this year. To this purist, preferring an IGP wine to a Muscadet feels a bit like turning up for a tasting at Château Haut-Brion and pronouncing the second wine, Le Clarence de Haut-Brion, to be superior to the grand vin; it’s just not what is supposed to happen. But in the case of Jérôme’s wines, the difference is real.
