Pierre Luneau-Papin, 2013 Update
Excited by the opportunity to meet some relative newcomers to the Vouvray firmament, and taste wines from the appellation never before encountered, I have focused more than usual on that region recently. I really enjoyed writing up those tastings, because although it is always useful to revisit the likes of Huet, Foreau, Fouquet and Carême, it is no less energising to meet people such as Michel Autran, Peter Hahn, Sébastien Brunet or Mathieu Cosme, and see what they have been doing with their recently inherited or newly purchased vineyards.
Was that remiss of me though? After all, those bottles of Vouvray won’t hit the shelves for months or maybe even years yet, whereas I am already in receipt of wine lists from UK retailers that feature Muscadet from the 2012 vintage. And this is a vintage not to be sneezed at, as I wrote up in my recently published Muscadet 2012 report. Although volumes are down (largely the result of inclement weather during flowering, inhibiting fruit set and reducing yields), the quality is up, the early-ripening Melon de Bourgogne fruit having been picked before the rains arrived in October. Much of the Loire saw very warm and humid weather during this month, with temperatures remaining high at night as well as at day, bringing a sure-fire danger of rot. I was delighted to realise, however, that some regions escaped this blight, and twice as delighted that the Nantais was one that did so; after the devastating 2011 vintage, in which rot was endemic, a repeat in 2012 would have been crushing. As it turns out though, the wines are exceptionally good in 2012. Quantities are down, but that shouldn’t be a problem for well-trained Muscadet blood hounds, who will no doubt be sniffing out this vintage already.
Having said that, as I have hinted at above all my notes (on more than two-dozen wines) on this vintage are already published in my Muscadet 2012 report, the wines tasted either at Charles Sydney’s annual tasting in London, or in Angers at the Salon des Vins de Loire. And so my forthcoming reports, starting here with the wines of Domaine Pierre Luneau-Papin, actually begin with the 2011 vintage.
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