Loire 2015: The Harvest
The 2015 harvest was much earlier than in some other recent years, including both 2013 and 2012. This is hardly surprising as these were both more challenging vintages when good maturity of fruit was more difficult to obtain. The 2015 harvest was not quite as early as that seen in 2011 though, a vintage which saw a very early harvest, 2011 having been the warmest year in France since records began (proof that there is more than just warm weather required when it comes to making a great vintage).
As I have already indicated, I will look at the 2015 harvest according to the varieties being picked, rather than the region, beginning with the early-ripening grapes.
Early Ripeners
The early ripening white varieties are principally Melon de Bourgogne and Sauvignon Blanc. As already noted the Melon de Bourgogne harvest started in Muscadet during the week of the 7th September, the fruit in very clean condition, so even machine-picked fruit will have decent potential. More dedicated growers of course started a little later and this unfortunately brought them up against the rains which kicked off on September 12th. Of course, these more dedicated growers such as Jo Landron and Marc Ollivier (pictured) favour hand-picking rather than machine-picking, so they already had in place the exact method required to accurately select out any fruit that was succumbing to rot (not that there was a great deal). Those growers picking through or after this period using machines will probably have been the most troubled by the rains. These growers are perhaps of less interest to us anyway.
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