River Layon at Rablay-sur-LayonI have been meaning to comment on this remarkable Decanter tasting of Layons from the 2007 vintage, which appeared in the January 2010 issue. The tasting was held at Decanter's offices in London in early September and it underlined what a brilliantly successful sweet wine vintage 2007 is despite the poor wet summer. The wines have great precision and purity.
Out of the 50 wines tasted – four received a Decanter award (five stars – max number possible), 21 were highly recommended (four stars), 24 recommended (three stars) and just one was described as fair (two stars). 98% of the wines recommended – must be virtually unheard of for a Decanter tasting.
The following wines were the Decanter Award Winners: Domaine de la Petite Croix, Cuvée Victoria, Vieilles Vignes, Bonnezeaux (270g/l rs); Domaine du Petit Métris (Joseph Renou et Fils) Les Tetueresm, Chaume* (165g/l rs); Château la Varière (Jacques Beaujeau), Les Melleresses, Bonnezeaux (248g/l rs); and Château Pierre-Bise (Claude and Joëlle Papin), L'Anclaie, Coteaux du Layon-Beaulieu (220g/l rs).
Both Jacques Beaujeau and Claude and Joëlle Papin have been past winners of the Decanter World Wine Awards Loire Regional Sweet Wine Trophy.
* This would have been bottled before the 2007 Chaume appellation was annulled earlier this year by the French courts. In view of the controversy over Quarts de Chaume and Chaume , it is interesting to note that within the award winners and highly recommended there were five Chaumes and four Quarts de Chaume. One of the Chaumes was an award winner with no Quarts de Chaume in the top category. On this evidence if the consumer was confused by Chaume and Quarts de Chaume, they should not have been disappointed by the the quality from either appellation. Nor on this showing there is no evidence that producers in the Quarts de Chaume are making better wines than those Chaume, despite QdeC's superior terroir.
Near Beaulieu-sur-Layon looking across to Château Soucherie
During the discussion following the tasting, Decanter asked the panel 'why don't we hear more about Loire sweet wines?'. Unfortunately they then proceeded to illustrate why these wines are not better known by failing to highlight the tasting on the magazine's front cover instead highlighting a tasting of 2005 Riojas, where the results were much more patchy with only one Decanter award winner!
The tasting panel: Sarah Jane Evans MW, Andy Howard (wine buyer, Marks & Spencer), Margaret Rand, Stephen Skelton MW, Steven Spurrier and myself.
Out of the 50 wines tasted – four received a Decanter award (five stars – max number possible), 21 were highly recommended (four stars), 24 recommended (three stars) and just one was described as fair (two stars). 98% of the wines recommended – must be virtually unheard of for a Decanter tasting.
The following wines were the Decanter Award Winners: Domaine de la Petite Croix, Cuvée Victoria, Vieilles Vignes, Bonnezeaux (270g/l rs); Domaine du Petit Métris (Joseph Renou et Fils) Les Tetueresm, Chaume* (165g/l rs); Château la Varière (Jacques Beaujeau), Les Melleresses, Bonnezeaux (248g/l rs); and Château Pierre-Bise (Claude and Joëlle Papin), L'Anclaie, Coteaux du Layon-Beaulieu (220g/l rs).
Both Jacques Beaujeau and Claude and Joëlle Papin have been past winners of the Decanter World Wine Awards Loire Regional Sweet Wine Trophy.
* This would have been bottled before the 2007 Chaume appellation was annulled earlier this year by the French courts. In view of the controversy over Quarts de Chaume and Chaume , it is interesting to note that within the award winners and highly recommended there were five Chaumes and four Quarts de Chaume. One of the Chaumes was an award winner with no Quarts de Chaume in the top category. On this evidence if the consumer was confused by Chaume and Quarts de Chaume, they should not have been disappointed by the the quality from either appellation. Nor on this showing there is no evidence that producers in the Quarts de Chaume are making better wines than those Chaume, despite QdeC's superior terroir.
Near Beaulieu-sur-Layon looking across to Château SoucherieDuring the discussion following the tasting, Decanter asked the panel 'why don't we hear more about Loire sweet wines?'. Unfortunately they then proceeded to illustrate why these wines are not better known by failing to highlight the tasting on the magazine's front cover instead highlighting a tasting of 2005 Riojas, where the results were much more patchy with only one Decanter award winner!
The tasting panel: Sarah Jane Evans MW, Andy Howard (wine buyer, Marks & Spencer), Margaret Rand, Stephen Skelton MW, Steven Spurrier and myself.
8 comments:
Bravo, look forward to my next issue!
Bob
Haven't you already had the January 2010 issue Bob?
Good lord no. Takes forever to get up here.
Bob
Remarkable tasting. I fear that the under-appreciation of the Loire will continue in Decanter's pages though, where I think it is regarded as a minority interest behind Bordeaux and Burgundy, rather than a 'go-to' region for certain styles, such as top Sauvignon (a benchmark style), dry Chenin from the likes of Vouvray or Savennières (both unparalleled in the world of wine), or indeed the many sweet wine appellations.
I hope you are surviving in Inverness. Still plenty of snow where I am, topped up by a small amount of fresh snow-sleet falling overnight.
Bob. So how many months do you have to wait for your copy to arrive?
Chris. Thanks for your message. I fancy you are right about Decanter. A news story that would be run if it was about Bordeaux will tend not to be of interest.
Surviving Inverness, despite two bottles of corked wine not Loire, more snow overnight.
New issue should be here in 2 weeks.
Chris brings up a good point about under-appreciation. When I help out at DeVines downtown, selling Loire requires imaginative hand-selling!!
Bob.
I agree Bob, although my impression certainly as far as blogs are concerned is that there is more interest in the Loire in North America than there is in the UK.
Given the range of styles and grape varieties it is perhaps not surprising that a number of Loire wines, outside of Sancerre and Muscadet, do require hand-selling and to a greater extent than wines from Bordeaux or Burgundy.
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