Vincent Carême, 2014 Update: The 2012 Vintage
The 2012 vintage was a very difficult one, in which many domaines struggled, and across the appellation I am sure a greater volume than usual went into sparkling wines. This is certainly the case at those domaines willing to divulge such information. Here chez Carême the 2012 Vouvray Brut has appeal, with a good sense of balance and appealing fruit; unusually for Vincent he has topped it up with a little liqueur de dégorgement in 2012, a reflection of the difficulty of the vintage perhaps? Even so, it has been a very gentle adjustment, the eventual concentration of sugar just 4 g/l.
The 2012 Vouvray L’Ancestrale is a fascinating wine. Vincent decided to blend in a little 2011, and in future vintages he would like to blend in a little more vin réserve, possibly up to 20% (the maximum amount that can be blended in without losing the vintage designation). Then in this vintage there has been the complication of malolactic fermentation, which Vincent suspects was precipitated by the addition of the 2011 reserve wine, which had itself previously undergone malolactic. The wine was thoroughly blended prior to bottling to ensure homogeneity across all bottles, but of the course the effect of this process is that the malolactic has continued in every bottle. Having said that, the wine doesn’t display to my palate overt malolactic character, again a reflection of the vintage I suppose, as the acidity still seems bright and lively, and the leaning of the fruit profile towards a greener style of fruit enhances this I suspect.
The sparkling 2012 Vouvray Cuvée T also strikes a chord, but the real credit for pulling the hat from the bag in this vintage comes with the dry cuvées from Vincent’s two vineyards on the première côte, the 2012 Vouvray Le Peu Morier and 2012 Vouvray Le Clos (the latter pictured). These wines look the part in the glass, with a polished straw-gold hue, and they have appealing aromatics that go beyond the green, leanness of the vintage to suggest pear and other orchard fruits. This in itself, in this very difficult vintage, is a significant achievement. That in each case the palate has substance and a confident, savoury character, polished and seeming all the world like proper Vouvray, only hammered home the message. This is a very skilled, dedicated team, who do not cut corners; they invest in the harvest, and select with a ruthless eye. They have to be, to make wines of this quality, in 2012. These are surely the best 2012s in the appellation I have tasted. (7/10/14)
