Le Clos de la Meslerie, 2022 Update
My recent report on some of the latest releases from Domaine Huet reminded me that late last year, a week or two after the 2021 harvest was all in, I also called in at Le Clos de la Meslerie. After hearing about the 2021 vintage, which was a tale of frost, hail, rain and mildew culminating in a rather smaller harvest than is usual (a somewhat more detailed report is due soon, I promise) I sat down with Juliette Hahn-Gidon to taste three of the domaine’s latest releases.
The Domaine
The domaine has been home to Peter Hahn (pictured below with Juliette) since about 2007; he actually bought it five years before that, but could do nothing until the prior leaseholder’s time had expired. His first vintage was 2008. What is truly noteworthy about the domaine, aside from Peter’s commitment to environmentally sound working, is his approach to the harvest and vinifications.
Peter and Juliette have only about 4 hectares to work with, all the vines being positioned directly around the château, with much of it enclosed by hedges. That’s a rather bijou vineyard for the region; many of Peter’s neighbours work a vineyard several times that size. Rather than trying to string out the harvest on his 4 hectares to make a portfolio of pétillant, sec, demi-sec and moelleux cuvées in microscopic volumes, Peter has favoured harvesting everything in one period of picking (usually lasting about a week) and then letting the vintage dictate the style.
Supremely rich vintages, such as 2015 with its 60 g/l residual sugar, are firmly in the moelleux camp, although such vintages are rare. They are mostly split between a demi-sec style, typically with 20 to 30 g/l residual sugar, and a sec or sec-tendre style, with residual sugars ranging from 6 to about 13 g/l. In the former camp you have vintages such as 2016, 2010 and 2009, while in the latter you have 2013 and 2011. So the take-home message is don’t pull the cork on a bottle here until you have done your research; you may find the style to be quite different to what you were expecting.
