Jérémie Huchet, 2020 Update
“It was a lovely vintage”, said Jérémie Huchet, with a hint of lament to his voice. The reason for this apparent reservation quickly became clear, as Jérémie lightly bashed the table with his clenched first, a look of frustration passing quickly across his face. “Or at least it would have been, if not for the frost that we had on April 4th”.
I have already referred to Jérémie’s view on the 2019 vintage in my 2019 Nantais report, but to quickly recap his story was fairly typical of the vintage in this region, the frost wiping out about half of his potential crop. Thereafter, however, the season was generally benevolent. His story deviates slightly from the usual in that he reports a little mildew early on, but by and large the summer here was warm with little rain. The vines had a short-lived respite from the drought when rains arrived on August 22nd, but thereafter it was very dry again, right through to the end of picking. The harvest of the Melon de Bourgogne was, as I concluded in my recent reports on the 2019 vintage, finished well before the rains, which bolstered the yields (and helped the maturity) of the Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc further upstream.
The Wines
Jérémie (pictured) holds sway over an extensive domaine, which incorporates several distinct estates, and he now also produces a small but interesting array of single-vineyard wines. Representing his home domaine, the 2019 Domaine de la Chauvinière shows a ripe and broad style, rich in salty thyme character, but with the requisite freshness and energy.
