Loire 2009 at Ten Years: Demi-Sec & Moelleux Wines
We come now to the third and final tasting report on the wines from the 2009 vintage in the Loire Valley, tasted at ten years of age, in which I focus on the demi-sec and moelleux styles. Again, while in terms of number of wines this instalment cannot compete with my report on the dry white wines of 2009, with just over half the number of wines here (14 versus 27), this is still a strong field of wines, with a number of high-flying cuvées from some of the region’s most exalted domaines among their number.
The roll-call of domaines includes Domaine de Bellivière, Domaine du Clos Naudin, François Chidaine, Domaine de la Bergerie and Vincent Carême, to name just a handful. And the cuvées presented run from the entry-level demi-sec wines right up to Cuvée Constance, a botrytis-fuelled tour de force from Domaine Huet, and the Moelleux Réserve from Philippe Foreau, thereby providing a broad overview of how all these styles, from wines with the most gentle demi-sec levels of sweetness up to those which are prodigiously rich in residual sugar, are performing at ten years of age.
The Wines
Starting with the demi-sec wines first, I present notes on just four cuvées, from three different Touraine appellations. I was not at all surprised by the strong showing from the 2009 Montlouis-sur-Loire Les Tuffeaux, from François Chidaine, who should surely rank in anybody’s list of the Loire valley’s top ten vignerons. The same can be said of Philippe Foreau and his delicious 2009 Vouvray Demi-Sec. I was more impressed by the equally good showing from the 2009 Montlouis-sur-Loire Trait d’union from Lise et Bertrand Jousset though; bearing in mind that at this time Lise and Bertrand were still both relative newcomers to viticulture and winemaking, having only settled in the region in 2004, this is a great wine. The 2009 Jasnières Prémices from Eric Nicolas ranked slightly behind this trio, but bearing in mind this is an entry-level young-vines cuvée, this too is a great performance. The scene was clearly set for a strong showing from the moelleux cuvées, and I was not disappointed.
