Four and Twenty Starlings: Loire 2015 at Ten Years
Sometime in 2017 – the exact date has long faded from memory, if indeed it was ever lodged there in the first place – I was stood in the cellars of a well-known domaine in Chinon. I was tasting with the vigneron-proprietor, and naturally we were focusing on the most recent vintages. That meant 2016, tasted from vat and barrel, and 2015, with some cuvées from this older vintage tasted from bottle, while some were still in élevage.
It wasn’t long before I was singing the praises of the reds from the 2015 vintage. It seemed the vignerons of Chinon and other red wine appellations in the Loire Valley had another hugely successful vintage on their hands. Having tasted my way through his range of red wines, I was seduced by their dark flavours, their athletic but textural palates, and their delicious sense of freshness despite this depth and substance. It was clear to me this was a vintage destined for the cellar. More specifically, my cellar. I was prepared to put my money where my mouth was.
To my surprise, my vigneron companion did not entirely concur with my view.
“I disagree,” he replied. “I’m not so sure about 2015, I think 2016 is a better vintage – it certainly has a lot going for it,” he continued.
We were (and still are) on good terms, so we were able to have a light-hearted joke with each other (I wish I could say this of every Ligérian vigneron). “Give it time, and you’ll see,” I suggested with a cheeky grin. “We will taste them again next year, and again in the future, and you will see the greatness of the 2015 vintage emerge. Eventually you will realise that you’re wrong. And I’m right.”
And with that, we continued our tasting, our chat soon turning to other subjects of importance to the rural French vigneron, such as which mushrooms were currently popping up in the woods, the daily yield of eggs from his hens, and how many starlings you need to fill a pie (somewhere between 12 and 24, apparently).
Since then I have at various moments revisited both the 2015 and 2016 vintages, but now it is time – as the vintage has now celebrated its tenth birthday – to return to the vintage once again. Of course, as all the mathematics graduates reading will have realised, these wines celebrated this landmark birthday back in 2025. I confess I am more than a little delayed in pulling these corks, and publishing this report. I blame the fiasco that was 2025 for this delay.
As is customary, before we come to the wines, a short recap on the growing season is warranted.
