Loire 2018 at Four Years: Sparkling, Demi-Sec & Moelleux
In this, the fourth and final instalment of my Loire 2018 at Four Years tasting report, I come to all the remaining styles produced in the region. Largely that means sweeter wines, ranging from demi-sec to moelleux. And, of course, I have squeezed in a couple of tasting notes on sparkling wines here as well.
I have also included a couple of sec-tendre interlopers, in both cases cuvées which usually fall convincingly into the demi-sec category (and so which would normally appear on this page) but, going against the grain of the vintage which favoured the production of sweeter styles, the residual sugar fell a little short of this target this year. In terms of style they are perhaps closer to sec than demi-sec, but I have included them here as it is an interesting to note this shift away from the ‘expected’ style.
The vintage is undoubtedly a strong one for the sweeter styles of the Loire Valley. Many vignerons in Anjou and Touraine took advantage of the favourable conditions, and there are just over a dozen wines up for discussion here.
The Wines
Looking to those two sparkling wines first, both come from the cellars of Vincent Carême. There is a some distance between his two principal sparkling wines in this vintage, the newly rechristened 2018 Vouvray Plaisir Ancestral showing rather more panache on the palate than the 2018 Vouvray Brut. Both are eminently drinkable, but I strongly favour the Ancestrale cuvée, both in terms of current drinkability and its potential for the cellar.
Jumping across the river to Montlouis-Sur-Loire, those sec-tendre cuvées wear the labels of François Chidaine.
