Domaine Mélaric, 2017 Update
The Saumur Puy-Notre-Dame was formally recognised by the Institut National des Appellations d’Origine (INAO) in 2006, which means it is already ten years since its inception. It is a large appellation, covering 17 communes scattered around the hilltop town of Le Puy-Notre-Dame and its slopes of limestone and flint, with about 1,500 hectares of vines. There is, you would think, plenty of raw material here, and the potential to build a reputation for quality like that of Saumur-Champigny.
And yet, so far this promise doesn’t seem to have materialised. Ten years on I have only really been able to familiarise myself with a handful of domaines, with peripheral knowledge of one or two others. To some extent this is my fault; covering the entirety of the Loire Valley means I spread myself pretty thin at times, and perhaps I need to focus on the region a little more. Equally, however, I haven’t seen any great push from the locals to promote this new appellation in the way that the Bourgueil vignerons have done since they withdrew from InterLoire and took on responsibility for all their own promotion.
One domaine that has popped up in the past few years, and which seems to get a little more interesting every year, is Domaine Mélaric. Based in Le Puy-Notre-Dame itself, proprietor Aymeric Hilaire (pictured) is expanding and consolidating his relatively new domaine, and turning out a really interesting array of wines as he does so. Recently (well, quite a while ago now actually – apologies for the tardiness of publishing these notes) I met up with Aymeric to taste the latest and forthcoming releases.
The Wines
We began with a quartet of white wines showcasing the 2013 vintage, albeit with an early glimpse of one cuvée in 2014 as well. The 2014 Billes des Roche shows the value of this vintage over 2013, as I suspect this wine will end up superior to the same cuvée in the 2013 vintage, and it looks set to be on a par with the upper-class cuvées also from that vintage. Aymeric perhaps sees it slightly differently; to his mind 2014 is an “easy” vintage which will be more approachable, where the acidity in 2013 means this will be better left along in the cellar for a while. He may well be right.
