Loire 2014 First Taste: Touraine
Nothing hones your understanding of a wine region and its wines more than visiting it, preferably for some time, preferably more than once. The words of a wine professional, be he or she a critic, writer, blogger or merchant who “doesn’t do vineyards” aren’t worth the paper (or screen) they are written on in my opinion. And nothing hones your feel for a vintage like visiting the region during the year in question. During 2014 I spent a total of four weeks in the Loire Valley, of which three were concentrated on Touraine, in particular Vouvray (although I did make flying visits to Anjou, Saumur and Sancerre).
So, here in Vouvray I have a little first-hand experience of the growing season, in particular the seemingly unrelenting intermittent sprinkling of summer showers in July that kept the vignerons on their toes all month long, as although it was not a very warm month in such persistently humid conditions there is always the threat of mildew. Even with all this work to do though, the vines and fruit still looked good, and the air was full of hope, and appropriately so. Vouvray has had a tough time of it recently, although to be fair nobody in the entire region has had it easy. The 2011 vintage was a difficult one, although the long Indian summer produced some remarkable late-harvest sweet wines (including an unprecedented release of the famed Goutte d’Or cuvée from Philippe Foreau, only the third-ever vintage after the 1947 and 1990). Nevertheless the dry wines have often seemed rather clunky to me. The 2012 vintage was a washout, floods turned roads into rivers, and mildew was a big problem; anybody who made a truly good wine (and I think they are in the minority) succeeded against the odds. And then there was the 2013 vintage, with its catastrophic hail, and its less than superb weather thereafter. Some nice dry wines were made, but nobody will be hailing 2013 as the vintage of the century.
Understandably, therefore, everybody had their fingers crossed for 2014. And all was looking hopeful during my visit in July, despite those frequent showers. In my weather report below I provide more detail, but as usual I start with the weather coming out of the preceding winter.
