Pierre Luneau-Papin, 2011 Update
With a huge wad of new tasting notes on 2009 Bordeaux piled up on my desk (metaphorically speaking – the reality is they’re in a spreadsheet on my hard drive), dozens of Bordeaux updates to be made, vertical tastings of Brane-Cantenac, Phélan-Ségur and other châteaux waiting to be written up following my visit to the region, and – by the time I’ve finished at this week’s tasting at The Institute of Masters of Wine – a whole bunch of new 2007 Bordeaux notes ready to go, it’s only natural that I should get stuck in with….err, Muscadet.
Please let me explain. The truth is, despite all my recent Bordeaux tastings, I still have quite a pile of tasting notes from one of my regular visit to the Loire Valley earlier this year, in particular quite a few following my tastings of the latest releases from a number of top Muscadet estates. There are updates yet to come on Domaine de l’Ecu (Guy Bossard), Domaine de la Louvetrie (Jo Landron) and Domaine de la Pépière (Marc Ollivier). There have been significant developments at some of these estates over the last year or two (including new blood at l’Ecu and Pépière), so I’m looking forward to publishing my notes and making the appropriate updates. I’m kicking off though with what is almost always the grandest of all Muscadet tastings, the wines of Pierre Luneau-Papin (pictured above). The last time I tasted through the range with Pierre-Marie, Pierre Luneau-Papin’s son, was two years ago. At that time we tasted multiple cuvées and vintages, right back to the 1982 L d’Or. This tasting was not quite as far-reaching, but was no less thrilling, taking in not one but two new cuvées.
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