A Blending Session with Vincent Carême, May 2024
Standing in the cellar doorway Vincent Carême lifted the bottle and measuring cylinder up to the light, and carefully trickled a portion of wine from the first into the second. The pale golden liquid – wine from young vines planted in one of Vincent’s top vineyards, Le Clos – slowly began to fill the cylinder. At precisely the required moment he tipped back the bottle and then, having checked he had measured out the correct volume, Vincent tipped the wine into a waiting jug.
This he did eight times, for eight wines, each time a precisely measured volume, specific for that wine.
And what he had, in the end, was the finished blend of his domaine’s sec cuvée, in the 2023 vintage.
The 2023 Blend
We had tasted eleven candidates for Vincent’s 2023 Vouvray Sec together, each time accepting or rejecting the wine for the blend. Of course I didn’t make any real decisions; all that was down to Vincent, who had already tasted all the wines during the hours before my visit. For him, this was just a second (or maybe a third or fourth) look, a final check before the decision was made. Of the eleven wines, eight made the cut, while three we rejected as being of inadequate quality. This was Vouvray quality control in the flesh.
As you might expect the eight wines, which came from disparate parcels scattered across communes of Noizay and Vernou-sur-Brenne, each showed something different.
First up was from Les Granges, in Noizay, a site with clay soils near the far eastern corner of the appellation, which impressed with aromas of smoky peach, and a sense of energy on the palate. The second came from Beauregard, also in Noizay but with clay and limestone soils, not to mention older vines; here I was smitten by the wine’s fragrant nose of orange blossom and citrus fruits. A third wine from Noizay, from vines planted on a slope of flint soils called Bois d’Ouches and situated just above the village, simmered with smoky reduction and white fruits.
