Loire 2012 First Taste: The Nantais
The sensible vigneron always looks for winter rain to replenish the water tables if parched, and for cold weather to ensure the vines achieve a deep dormancy, as well as killing off over-wintering vineyard pests. The 2011/2012 winter served up a little of both, with heavy rain in December 2011 and a severe cold snap in February 2012. Snow fell and coated the vineyards in a soothing white blanket. The overnight temperatures were sub-zero for the first two weeks, hitting notable lows on the 4th and 9th of the month, with the lowest reading of the year, -8.4ºC, on February 12th.
March was dry with the occasional cold spell, although this cannot be said of April which saw four periods of heavy rainfall during the course of the month, totalling 105.5mm, well above average. Some areas upstream of the Nantais also experienced frost, especially on April 16th and 17th, which of course has the potential to cause significant damage to the new growth’s tender tissues. Reports on this in the Muscadet region were variable, however, with Marie Chartier-Luneau of Domaine Luneau-Papin reporting a little frost in March rather than April, and Rémi Branger of Domaine de la Pépière denying any frost problem at all. The Muscadet vineyards were also largely spared the hail that hit some regions upstream.
Nevertheless, even without extensive frost or hail, cold and wet weather during spring can be harmful to the emerging buds and young leaves, and as May and June were also wet the weather certainly interfered with the subsequent flowering and fruit development. This rolled out in an uneven and stuttering manner, with Domaine de la Pépière reporting a four-week flowering period, a marked contrast to the more typical five days. As a consequence, the growing season began with reduced flowering and problematic fruit set, giving coulure (failure of fruit development) and millerandage (unevenly sized, ‘hen and chicken’ fruit), and this was a significant contributor to the low yields seen this year, as well as subsequent heterogeneity of fruit ripeness.
