Loire 2023: First Impressions
This has been a complicated vintage, with mildew giving all the region’s vignerons – from the Nantais to the Upper Loire – a headache through June, July and even for an unlucky few, in August. Then, while those in the Nantais and the Central Vineyards busied themselves with picking the ripe fruit, the vineyards of Anjou, Saumur and Touraine took sporadic rainfall followed by an attack of acid rot which played havoc with the harvest.
The vintage has thus yielded very variable results, making it difficult to provide valid general comments. But a few broad brushstroke conclusions can be drawn.
One thing that can be said is that this is not a vintage of small yields and limited volumes. Even with many in Anjou and Touraine dropping fruit because of grey rot or more pointedly acid rot, many growers brought in larger volumes than they had seen in recent years, certainly better than both 2022 and 2021. Some in the region hit their maximum yields, and thus left fruit unpicked, or sent it for distillation, because they simply ran out of space in the cellars.
Another general but valid comment is that the 2023 vintage bucks the trend for the warm ‘solar’ style seen in many recent vintages, in particular 2022, 2020, 2019 and 2018. The wines of 2023 are unlikely to display the warmth and rich maturity that can be found in those vintages, nor are they going to be dragged down by high alcohols, soft or blowsy structures or inadequate acidities. This is a cooler, fresher vintage, with lower (more ‘normal’) alcohol levels than we have perhaps become accustomed to tasting in recent years.
