Liquid Gold 2022
At least three years have passed since I came up with the theme for episode four of Liquid Gold. If you are not familiar with this annual jamboree of sweet wine, it all began with episode one (obviously), a rather disorganised tasting of Sauternes from multiple châteaux across various vintages, from Climens and Coutet to Suduiraut and Sigalas-Rabaud, from 2013 back to 1988. Episode one was published back in 2019.
It was my intention to follow Sauternes in 2019 with Quarts de Chaume in 2020. At least that was the case until it suddenly dawned on me that I had overlooked the 30th anniversary of the 1989 vintage, and so my course was set. Episode two featured a select band of sweet wines from 1989, all at thirty years of age. And I could not do anything else but the same for the 1990 vintage, in episode three, published in 2021.
And so here we are, three years on, and episode four features 21 wines from Quarts de Chaume. It is a measure of how rapidly the Anjou wine scene is evolving that Quarts de Chaume is already a much changed appellation compared to just three or four years ago, never mind what it was like when some of the wines in this tasting were bottled, back in the 1990s or 1980s. For that reason, before diving head-first into my thoughts on the 21 wines reported on here, first let’s take a look at the Quarts de Chaume appellation; its genesis, evolution and recent metamorphosis.
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