Loire 2005: Chinon in 2019
Writing of the Loire 2005 vintage fourteen years on, in 2019, puts it in a very different context to that into which it was born. This was a quite superb vintage for the red wines of the region; it was a warmer year, with mean temperatures generally 1ºC to 2ºC above the norm. The vines ripened their bunches at leisure, and the harvest was appropriately early, bringing in good volumes of clean, bright and healthy fruit. Quality in red was astronomically good, the best that the region had seen for years. At the time only the 2003 vintage came close, although there was always a nagging doubt about the structure, the acidity and the balance in that vintage (I think the 2003 Loire reds turned out really well, but it was only natural to be cautious at the time). It was undoubtedly superior to the only worthwhile red vintages of the latter years of the 1990s, namely 1996 and perhaps 1997. And while it is difficult to compare it with 1990 and 1989, these wines already working their way towards drinkable maturity by 2005, I never had any inkling that the 2005 vintage might be anything less than superior.
Look at the vintages that have followed it though. Fist came the triumvirate of 2009, 2010 and 2011, the first two undisputedly favourable for the region’s red wines, the latter also, although it was not immediately obvious. The 2011 vintage was difficult for the early-ripening varieties (especially down in Muscadet where there was rampant rot), and even the earlier pickings of the later-ripening varieties, namely Chenin Blanc for sec wines, the results often clunky combinations which lacked phenolic ripeness. But then came a brilliantly long Indian summer, producing wonderful ripening conditions for the reds, and some great sweet wines were made as well. While 2012 and 2013 were weaker years, there then came a run of fine vintages. The 2014 vintage was fresh, with many reds displaying an acid-framed structure, but there are some gems in there. Then we had 2015, which was simply brilliant, as well as 2016 and 2017, which despite some problems with frost also produced excellent red wines. And as for 2018…..only time will tell, but the early indications are that this could be the best of the lot.
Curiously, we have gone from famine to feast. Purchases of red wines from the Loire Valley used to be occasional, and I bought more from Bordeaux. Now the reverse is true; I rarely buy Bordeaux for my own cellar, as prices of the best wines preclude this, but my cellar is bursting at the seams with recently released Chinon and Bourgueil. And I continue to discover new domaines of interest; I have some appointments to visit some of these domaines in the next few weeks, as this weekend I head back to the Loire Valley once again.
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