Le Clos de la Meslerie, 2015 Update
Up on the hills above the valley of the Brenne, not too far from the likes of Vincent Carême and François Pinon, we find the vineyards of Le Clos de la Meslerie. I still remember the first time I met proprietor Peter Hahn (and his father, who was helping out for the day, as it happens) at a tasting in London. I approached the wines with some caution; this was before the currently ongoing revitalisation of Vouvray really got going, and I had become accustomed to experiencing disappointment when straying beyond the know quantities of Huet, Foreau, Champalou and Fouquet. To my delight the wines were good, on several levels. Not only were the wines themselves of good quality, coming from organically-grown fruit, but the whole philosophy of the domaine – harvesting from the clos in just a handful of tries, allowing the style of wine to be determined by the vagaries of the vintage (rather than diving up the tries for sec, demi-sec and so on) – seemed to me to be true to the Vouvray appellation.
On this most recent occasion I had the opportunity to taste not only old favourites, such as 2009 and 2010, but also to revisit 2011 once again, and to have a first taste of the 2013 vintage now that it has been blended. There were actually two tastings, in Angers and in London, and my notes below are presented separately.
The Wines
Having returned to the wines many times over the last few years, the practice described above has certainly made its mark on the portfolio. The 2009 and 2010 vintage were both very rich years, ultra-sweet demi-sec, moving towards moelleux. The two bottles tasted here, the 2009 Le Clos de la Meslerie tasted with Peter (pictured) in the Loire Valley, and the 2010 Le Clos de la Meslerie tasted with him in London, showed great consistency. As for the 2011 Le Clos de La Meslerie this was always a drier wine, a consequence of the less benevolent vintage. The style is less appealing to the mind and palate of Peter Hahn, who prefers the fleshier residuals of the first two vintages, and while initially I agreed with him as the wine has developed I have come to admire this vintage. I adore its vinous, sinewy substance, showing all the depth and complexity of flavour that the 2009 and 2010 vintages possess, but without relying on any significant amount of residual sugar to coax it along. On these two recent tastings it showed delightfully. It is a delicious wine, and is perhaps more versatile for its drier state.
