Loire 2011 First Taste: The Nantais & Anjou
Having written last year – within the introduction to my tasting of 2010 Muscadet and Anjou wines – of the crisis in this region, it pains me to write of the difficulties of the 2011 vintage for Muscadet. As I have already discussed in my 2011 vintage review this was a very challenging vintage, with damp weather, mildew and rot wreaking havoc in the vineyard. How this has translated through into the wines depends very much on the vigneron in question. As for Anjou, the vignerons here seem decidedly less despondent, and in some cases are very positive. Nevertheless, as always, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.
Muscadet
My first encounter with the 2011 vintage was at Charles Sydney’s Loire tasting, and the notes provided below relate to that annual event. If I had the power to bestow a glorious vintage upon any region it would be the Nantais; while the wine world remains obsessed with more famous appellations that hardly need the press, this region soldiers on almost ignored. I remain convinced that a focused, subregional, quality-orientated approach is the way out of this mire; that several of the proposed crus communaux – as discussed in my guide to Muscadet – were signed off in 2011 is I think a very welcome first step down this long road.
Sadly this was perhaps the only piece of good news about Muscadet in 2011. The primary viticultural problem this year was grey rot, nothing rare in itself, but causing a particular problem in this vintage. The problem can be tackled in many ways that relate to viticultural practices, methods of harvesting and work in the cellar and now is perhaps not the time to try and cover all of them, although one or two are worthy of note. Firstly, rot is usually a superficial problem, requiring a few grapes to be cut away from the surface of the just-picked bunch. Clearly this means hand-harvesting is vital, or at least a thorough inspection and cleaning-up of the fruit prior to machine harvesting. In 2011, however, the rot was particularly invidious, and often penetrated deep into the bunches; thus hand harvesting, and careful inspection of the fruit, became absolutely essential for those seeking quality.
