Loire 2012 at Ten Years: Tasting Notes
The 2012 vintage in the Loire Valley was one in which the vignerons of Nantais and the Central Vineyards had clearly been dealt the best hands. Sadly for the former the crop was very small, the vineyards having been blighted by frost and mildew, but the quality of the Muscadets – both traditional sur lie wines, and the crus communaux – was clearly fabulous. So too the white wines of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, not to mention all the Sauvignons from the Coteaux du Giennois all the way down to the eastern Touraine vineyards. It was not the particular terroir or region that mattered, more that these varieties ripened and were then harvested in ideal conditions, before the rains swept in.
It makes sense, then, to look to these wines first. The tasting notes below include some wines showing remarkably well for ten years. The 2012 Les Gras Moutons from Domaine de la Pépière was brilliantly evolved and complex, yet it showed great purity and definition, and it is surely the best showing from this cuvée I can recall (not to mention one of the best ten-year-old sur lie Muscadets I have tasted for quite some time). Looking to the cru communal side of the appellation, even better was the 2012 Château-Thébaud from the same domaine, with great mineral drive and bitter undertones. Sadly, this was my last bottle.
I did also pop the cork on a 2012 Clisson, but it was overtly oxidised, quite different to the bottle I opened in my Muscadet Crus Communaux Retrospective just a few years ago, and clearly not representative. As a consequence I haven’t reported on it below.
Leaving behind the wines of the Atlantic vineyards, king among the wines from Pouilly-Fumé was the 2012 Silex, from Domaine Didier Dagueneau. Perhaps no surprise there. What was more surprising in this appellation was the strong performance from the 2012 Cullus from Domaine Masson-Blondelet, an oak-vinified cuvée, which married perfectly the delicately honeyed fruits with a punchy confidence and crushed flint minerality. Confirming the high quality of the vintage, Sancerre also produced an exceptional slew of wines, with the confident, complex and simply stunning 2012 Edmond from Alphonse Mellot easily the equal of the Silex cuvée. But also very impressive were the wines of Vincent Pinard, Gérard Boulay, Jonathan Pabiot and La Tour Saint Martin.
In short, Muscadet and the Central Vineyards turned out some great wines. So much for the expected. What about the unexpected?
