Vincent Carême Retrospective, 2018: 2015, 2016 & 2017
Here on the third page of this report I take a look at three very recent vintages from Vincent Carême. Having ended the vertical tasting on a high, with the 2015 Vouvray Le Clos, I continue here with three more tasting notes from this vintage, these being his two sparkling cuvées, as well as the remarkable 2015 Vouvray Première Trie, all of which (albeit for different reasons) tend to come to market later than the sec, sec tendre and demi-sec wines.
I then moved on to the 2016 vintage, another very strong year for the appellation, although like 2016 it also tends to have a slightly softer and richer style, with more emphasis on texture and phenolic substance than on vibrant acidity. In other words it is more like 2015 than the brilliant 2014. This is still a super vintage chez Carême though, with excellent quality in sparkling, sec, demi-sec and moelleux wines here. This was a first taste of several of these cuvées in this vintage for me, and I look forward to revisiting them at the forthcoming Salon des Vins de Loire.
Finally, I finished up with just two wines from 2017, starting with the domaine cuvée, from a blend of parcels (just as it was back in 1999, although I am sure the identity, location and quality of the various different parcels has changed). This offers good tension and classic floral and stone notes, and will rightly be popular. The wine all sensible palates should be obsessing over though is the 2017 Vouvray Le Clos (previously pictured in Vincent’s hod, above), which looks set to steal the show in this vintage. It is a wine with a deliciously bright and biting confidence.
This brief canter through the three most recent vintages brought my tasting with Vincent and Tania to an end. In summary this was an excellent tasting which reaffirmed my opinion that Vincent Carême is today among the top tier in Vouvray. Naturally I look forward to getting acquainted with the next twenty vintages from Vincent, and no doubt many of them will find their way into my cellar. (22/1/19)
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