Domaine du Clos Naudin Vouvray Demi-Sec 1976

As much as I enjoy spending time with my primeurs spirit guide – I mean, who wouldn’t want to spend the weekend with Taylor Swift – this week I sought out a counterweight to the steady stream of Bordeaux 2023 tasting notes currently flowing across the Winedoctor homepage. Something with a little more maturity than an embryonic barrel sample, with the power to reinvigorate a palate which has encountered one too many young Bordeaux blends in the past few weeks.

A Chenin, perhaps?

Maybe something from the 1970s?

This was not a decade rich in vinous treasures in the Loire Valley, but they are there waiting to be discovered, if you know where to look. There were only two stand-out vintages, the first of which was 1971, a year which produced a harvest of rich concentration in Vouvray with super acidity, giving us a broad range of styles from sec all the way up to the most botrytis-rich and long-lived moelleux cuvées. It is arguably the best vintage of the decade for this appellation. And if that is taken as read, then the runner-up – indeed, the only other contender – would be 1976.

The year was marked by a long, hot and dry summer, not just here in the Loire Valley but across much of Europe; it was a season and harvest that lived long in the memories of the viticulteurs who worked it. The result was excellent phenolic maturity in the region’s red varieties, a rare occurrence at the time (but much less rare today). They are worth picking up if you spot any; the 1976 Bourgueil Cuvée Prestige from Lamé Delisle Boucard which I drank more than a few years ago now was a good example of the success within this vintage.

Happily here in Vouvray, where we are dealing with Chenin Blanc rather than Bourgueil’s Cabernet Franc, the 1976 vintage was also a success. The harvest started early, the grapes fully ripened by the dry summer conditions, and of course picking early helped to capture desirable acidity. Those that held off in order to produce a later-picked sweet wine had more difficulties, as the acidities fell away in the warm conditions, and there was unexpected rain which in the warm conditions resulted in a rapid and widespread attack of botrytis. The sweeter wines were still good, but they tend not to match the freshness and precision seen in 1971.

The appellation at this time naturally looked somewhat different to how it appears today. During the 1970s it was still Gaston Huet who was in charge at Domaine Huet, although 1976 was notable for being the first vintage in which he turned over control of the cellars to his son-in-law Noël Pinguet. Here at Domaine du Clos Naudin, meanwhile, Philippe Foreau had yet to take up the reins, and it was his father André Foreau – Gaston Huet’s brother-in-law, by the way – who was running the domaine. Apart from turning out a panoply of super wines André is perhaps best remembered for his horticultural activities during World War II. If you have ever read the story of a Vouvray vigneron who buried all his best bottles in his vegetable garden so that they would not be pilfered by German troops, you were reading about André Foreau.

And so to the wine, the 1976 Vouvray Demi-Sec from André Foreau, as the label declares viticulteur at Clos Naudin. The cork slid out with ease in one piece (somewhat to my surprise) and the wine so liberated immediately impressed with its incredible colour, an intensely burnished, orange-gold, almost ochre hue. While richly pigmented it is also notable for its crystal-like clarity. The aromatics are just wonderful, with layer upon layer of complexities, some familiar and some less so, beginning with seams of dried orange and liquorice, nuanced with more fragrant notes of orange blossom and rose water. Little wisps of herbal tea and truffle later appear, the former a little more reminiscent of a good Coteaux du Layon than Vouvray, while the latter surely hints at a touch of botrytis here. The palate feels softly polished and very pure, and texturally it is still plush with residual sugar, with a little grip and fairly modest acidity, but a wonderful frame of powdery phenolics. It does not feel particularly driven or acid-bright, but there is still a captivating sense of energy and vigour to this, running into a very long finish. A quite brilliant demi-sec, and importantly – should you be sitting on a case or two – a wine with decades of aging potential yet. No alcohol declared on the label (different times!) and also interesting to note this was a 73 centilitre bottling. 96/100 (13/5/24)

Read more in:

• My detailed profile of Domaine du Clos Naudin
• My guide to Chenin Blanc in the Loire Valley
• My guide to Loire Valley vintages

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