wine-info
Beaujolais and Loire, July 2010
Back in late March I spent a couple of days in Beaujolais: and enjoyed some of the most exciting tastings I have had in years. The 2009 vintage is clearly good to great over most of France, but in Beaujolais it is truly extraordinary: some vignerons compared it to 1947, and M. Viornery, our grower in Brouilly who is retiring after 35 harvests, said it was the best vintage he has ever made. Other comparisons were made: to 2005 - but 2009 was felt to offer purer, more concentrated fruit with less structure, so more enjoyable earlier; and also to 1989 - to which 2009 was considered superior. For me tasting 2009 Beaujolais reminded me of young 2007 southern Rhônes (and many of you have already enjoyed these!), as a vintage of exuberantly fruited, delicious wines which can be enjoyed immediately or laid down.
Meanwhile, in early February Gordon undertook our annual visit to the “Salon des Vins de Loire” in Angers. Here too the mood was upbeat and optimistic, following a very successful vintage along the length of the river in 2009. Localized summer hail did reduce yields in some parts of the central vineyards(quite dramatically in Menetou-Salon) ; despite quantities being down, François Cherrier in Sancerre declared himself well pleased with the high level of ripeness, satisfying acidities and overall excellent quality. The good weather lasted long into the season allowing the production of some fine sweet Chenin Blancs, but we will have to wait a year or two before these are released.
As the wines from these two regions so perfectly match the holiday mood brought on by the warmer summer weather it seemed to us a great opportunity to present them together in a list.
Simon Taylor
June 2010
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