Jo Landron, 2017 Update
As is the case with many of his peers, Jo Landron was hit hard by the frost that devastated a number of vineyards up and down the Loire Valley in the 2016 vintage Across the entire domaine he lost on average 70% in the frost, leaving him very short of fruit, and thus wine, in this very difficult year.
As a consequence Jo (pictured) decided to look elsewhere for fruit in this vintage, and he clearly had some success; the 2016 domaine cuvée is made from purchased fruit. Perhaps the most surprising thing about this is not that Jo took the decision to seek out and buy some fruit for this cuvée, but that he actually managed to find anybody willing to sell. Finding sources of fruit – especially if you are wedded to buying only organically grown fruit – has been a real challenge after such widespread destruction.
This is a problem up and down the Loire Valley in this vintage, and it explains why a number of Ligérian vignerons have gone outside the region to find sources of fruit that they can vinify. These include, for example, François Chidaine (in Montlouis and Vouvray) who has sourced Chenin Blanc for a Vin de France cuvée from Limoux, and Nicolas Grosbois (in Chinon) who bought and vinified fruit in Gaillac.
The Wines
We might suppose that having to use purchased fruit would be a disadvantage, but I was impressed by the sweet fruit and musky perfume displayed by the 2016 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur lie. It shows the richer composition of the vintage, but it also has a sense of freshness to it. I was also taken with the vibrant, salty, accessible and charming characteristics in Amphibolite Nature, in both the 2015 and 2016 vintages. These are wines that will be very popular washing down oysters in the bars and bistros of Nantes.
