Loire 2003: Tasting in 2011
This tasting of wines from the 2003 vintage at eight years of age does not, unfortunately, take in every region and every style. As usual my focus is on Anjou, Saumur and Touraine, the true heart of the Loire, featuring wines from some of the Loire’s leading vignerons, including Bernard Fouquet of Domaine des Aubuisières, François Pinon, Bernard Baudry, Claude Papin of Château Pierre-Bise and Philippe Foreau, not to mention the Foucault brothers of Clos Rougeard. There are also examples from what I believe are ‘old favourites’ for many who like to dripienk their way up and down the Loire, from Couly-Dutheil and Pierre Jacques Druet.
So this is not a bad selection; not comprehensive by any means, but enough to afford us a superficial feel for the vintage at the very least. Naturally I would have been more content if I could offer some report from each and every Loire region, even if it were just on one or two wines, but I am unable to do so. My sole representative from Muscadet is the Sélection de Maxime from Bruno Cormerais, a wine that brings together prolonged oak aging and Melon de Bourgogne, a combination that rarely works well in my experience. Having said that it seemed to all marry up quite nicely here, but the overall effect was spoiled by a background trace of oxidation.
As for the central appellations of Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé and so on, I have nothing to offer in this department. I have to admit, however, that I won’t lose too much sleep over this. The vintage was not a good one across all of France for dry white styles, and my experience of rather soupy, blowsy wines includes encounters with wines from – off the top of my head – Savennières (including the Baumard Clos du Papillon, tasted here), Meursault and a number of other Burgundy appellations, Alsace, Pessac-Léognan and Champagne. None, in my opinion, have covered themselves in glory. Sweeter styles cope better, perhaps because the acidity is concentrated a little as the fruit dehydrates, and red wines seem to be more tolerant of lower acid levels, although in neither case are the wines immune. Happily for me, most of the wines tasted here showed very well indeed. (21/9/11)
