Vincent Carême, 2011 Update
One of last year’s Salon discoveries was Vincent Carême, a young winemaker based in Vouvray, and his engaging South African wife Tania. So struck was I by the floral and mineral lift of some of their wines that I was unable to resist the temptation to pay them a summer visit, just a few months later. I was eager to see the domaine for myself, to taste a broader range of wines, and to revisit those I had already tasted earlier in the year. It was of course my opinion of these wines, which had seemed so compelling, that drove me to pester Vincent and Tania for an hour or two of their time, but having had Richard Leroy remark to me that he considered Vincent one of the best vignerons in Vouvray today added a little fuel to my fire, not that it was needed.
Understandably this year I returned to where Tania, Vincent and I met just twelve months ago to taste again, both new wines and some with which I am now fairly familiar, having bought more than a handful at the domaine. On this occasion we began with the 2009 Sec, a wine I tasted for the first time last July and which seemed relaxed and charming, a reflection of Tania and Vincent (pictured below) themselves perhaps? Today though it seemed somewhat more assertive, more defined, showing structure and grip alongside its floral allure. How glad I am I picked up a six-pack of this!
Having said that we are spoilt for choice here, as the more tender demi-sec cuvées are also full of gentle, polished floral promise. Of the Tendre and Peu Morier cuvées I preferred the former, which on this occasion hailed from the 2009 vintage, to the latter which was full of fleshy charm and very typical of 2008 I think, a year which seems to have blessed us with superb demi-sec cuvées from all over Vouvray and Montlouis.
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