Loire 2018 First Taste: Touraine
If you thought my eagerness for the 2018 vintage in the Loire Valley might begin to wane a little as we move up river, from Anjou and Saumur to Touraine, I am afraid I will have to ask you to think again.
This is a vintage which has produced white wines in a rich style, a year when single-vineyard cuvées from the best terroirs have a brilliant substance and delightful balance, although some more generic cuvées – entry-level wines blended from several parcels, perhaps on lesser soils – can sometimes lack a little energy. It is a vintage in which I will certainly buy, but with caution; the indiscriminate purchase and cellaring of domaine-level wines might not be the wisest buying strategy. Having said that, during the past couple of months I have recently enjoyed drinking various examples of entry-level Vouvray and non-cru communal Muscadet Sèvre et Maine from the 2009 vintage, another vintage in which the wines tended towards a broader, richer and softer style, so maybe I am being a little over-cautious.
Here in Touraine, though, as well as many promising white wines, I suspect we are going to find some of the most striking wines of this vintage. It is somewhat ironic that while I have heard 2018 likened to the fabled 1947 vintage by vignerons at opposite ends of the Loire Valley, in Muscadet and in Sancerre, it is in fact here in Touraine that I think the wines will prove the wisdom of these words. It is the red wines, from Chinon, Bourgueil and St Nicolas de Bourgueil, which I think will be most memorable, although I suspect the sweeter wines of Vouvray and Montlouis will also have very long and brilliant lives.
Chinon and Bourgueil
All these thoughts come with a strong note of caution. At this stage I have tasted quite a few white wines, a handful of sweet wines, and a few red wines. Of the latter, quite a number are entry-level wines which the vignerons are already getting ready for market. Some are already in bottle, a decision forced upon the vignerons in question by the short supply of the 2016 and 2017 vintages, where in many parts of the region volumes were greatly curtailed by frost. I will have more certainty about the grander wines of Chinon and Bourgueil after I return to the region later in the year, when I will make a round of visits in these regions. With that caveat out of the way, let’s get back to the wines.
