Domaine de la Noblaie, 2016 Update
It is a good time to be interested in the red wines of the Loire Valley, by which I am really referring to the Cabernet Franc heartland of Saumur and Saumur-Champigny, Bourgueil, St-Nicolas de Bourgueil and, of course, Chinon. These are appellations where vignerons have been battling against the odds for a couple of vintages. Although 2011 was a blessing in disguise, the difficult season ending in a long (albeit somewhat humid) Indian summer which has given us some dark and concentrated red wines, it was all downhill from there in the two years that followed. The 2012 vintage was rather cool and the wines, although pure and fresh, tend to lack generosity. The 2013 vintage was a washout, as it was in Bordeaux, and it was a year which tested the mettle of the men and women making the wine more than any other in recent years.
Why is that interesting? First, because in 2012 and especially in 2013 we see how these vignerons cope in severely adverse conditions. Secondly (and perhaps of more interest!), the trend is now uphill again. The 2014 vintage was more benevolent, and I suspect 2015 will also turn out to be at least very good, perhaps even better. I am looking forward to getting my teeth into these two more recent vintages. First, though, I am clearing the decks, working my way through some reports on the 2012s and 2013s. In doing so I now come to Jérôme Billard (pictured) and Domaine de la Noblaie.
The Wines
This tasting features the 2012 more than the 2013 vintage. That is perhaps inevitable, as in 2013 the conditions were such that proprietor Jérôme Billard won’t be releasing the full range of cuvées. There is no Pierre de Tuf and no Les Chiens-Chiens in 2013, and the volume of Les Blancs Manteaux has been seriously curtailed (about 1,500 bottles compared to a more usual figure of 12,000). Thus on this occasion there was only the domaine cuvée to taste (he has a domaine white as well, plus a superior white cuvée La Part des Anges, neither were tasted here though). The domaine red is a lighter and leaner style of wine, with a character that suggests it will mature fairly quickly, and should be drunk sooner rather than later. From what I know of the vintage, however, to have produced a wine of such freshness and purity will have taken a great degree of work and it has obviously involved declassification and a rigorous selection, and for that reason it is perhaps the most significant wine here.
