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Vincent Carême Vouvray Moelleux Première Trie 2016

Today’s Weekend Wine takes us back to 2016, arguably a landmark vintage in recent Loire Valley vinous history.

Why might that be so? I am tempted to joke that it was the year I bought my house near Chinon (which is true, just, as I signed on December 31st – making that particular New Year’s Eve a double celebration) but I am quite sure none of the region’s vignerons even noticed (not until I started bothering them with greater frequency, anyway). But no. The truth is that the 2016 vintage is noteworthy as it heralded a new era of risk for the Loire Valley, as the season was marked by devastating frost damage in spring, a marker of climate change. And this was a disaster that would be repeated in a number of subsequent years, becoming the new norm for the region.

This region was not, of course, entirely unaccustomed to frost. Indeed, to some extent it has shaped the Loire Valley we know today, the great frost of 1709 having prompted the planting of the (supposedly) frost-resistant Melon de Bourgogne. And there were also the frosts of 1991 and 2008, both of which forced many Muscadet vignerons into bankruptcy. Further upstream, however, in appellations such as Anjou, Bourgueil, Chinon, Vouvray and the like, while one or two corners were susceptible, frost was a much less common occurrence. Until 2016, that is, when the mild winter fostered a very early budbreak, and it was when the temperatures dropped in the wee small hours of April 27th that the damage was done.

And it was not a one-off, as the frosts returned in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022. Suffice to say that since 2016 the majority of Ligérian vignerons have ramped up their frost protection to turbo-charged levels.

Vincent Carême Vouvray Moelleux Première Trie 2016

Once the frost had passed, the 2016 vintage proceeded without great event. The first half of the season saw plentiful rain, and the mildew pressure was high. This is nothing new though, and sensible vignerons were proactively treating from the outset. This persisted through to mid-June, when the clouds parted and the sun appeared. And the fine weather persisted for the next five months, providing wonderfully warm and dry conditions for the end of the season. Indeed, so dry were the conditions that the few showers which arrived in September were welcomed, helping the vines to ripen their crop. Those vines that still bore a crop after the frost, that is.

In Vouvray the yield was just 15% lower than expected, a sign that while the frost did great damage in some parts (such as across the river in Montlouis-sur-Loire), Vouvray’s elevation had clearly protected it from the worst. The picking began here in late September, proceeding into early October. Three things contributed to the decision to hold out for a later harvest for sweet wines; firstly the favourable forecast through October and November (essential), and secondly the decent crop; if the frost damage had been significantly worse I am sure most would have picked everything earlier for the more commercially valuable dry and sparkling wines. Thirdly, while 2015 had also been good for sweet wines, many prior vintages had been more suited to dry and sparkling wines, so few had a huge surfeit of sweet wine to sell.

Vincent Carême left some fruit out in his Noizay vineyards, regular contributors to his moelleux cuvées, but he also left some in Le Peu Morier, on the première côte. The end result was two cuvées, the 2016 Vouvray Moelleux and 2016 Vouvray Moelleux Première Trie, and it is the latter of the two that is featured here. This top cuvée is made using 50% botrytised and 50% passerillé fruit, a strong combination to my mind as the latter component brings desirable Vouvray typicity to the mix; pure botrytised liquoreux cuvées can be impressive, but they miss a little Ligérian flair (for this read minerality and acidity) for my palate. It has a polished orange-gold hue in the glass, and a rich and complex nose of jasmine, custard apple, beeswax and honey spread on lavishly buttered toast. This precedes a beautifully integrated palate, rich and structured, but with a modest impact considering the sweetness which is countered by a frame of firm phenolic grip and fresh acidity. It culminates with enticing notes of jasmine and green tea, set in a pithy, delightfully bitter and classic frame. A superbly sweet yet fresh and elegant Vouvray, this undoubtedly has many years ahead of it. To my eternal shame I don’t appear to have made a note of the residual sugar here, but this is a fairly rich style and I suspect it is between 80 and 100 g/l. The alcohol on the label is 12%. 96/100 (8/4/24)

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