#2016 Loire harvest – Vouvray and Montlouis

Vines on the plateau above Rochecorbon 

The speck just above the trees is a Ryanair 

plane coming in to land at Tours Airport

Vouvray

Yesterday we had a brief look again at Vouvray – on Thursday (29th) we had dropped in on Michel Autran where we also saw Vincent Carême. 

Up in Parcay-Meslay we saw Jean-Michel Gautier (Domaine de la Racauderie):

"Parcay-Meslay was one of the worst hit communes by the April frost. We lost 80% of the crop, some lost 100%. We will start picking tomorrow. The remaining grapes are at 11% potential, which is fine for sparkling Vouvray which is our main focus. Although, however, we are increasing the proportion of our still wine as we have a good market in the United States for this."

Then on our way into Tours for CRM's late birthday lunch we dropped in on Château Gaudrelle and saw Cyril Nénin, the maître de chai:

"We haven't started picking yet as the the heat of July and August stopped the grapes from maturing. However, with the fine weather we can afford to take our time. At the moment the grapes are between 11.5% to 12% potential. We are waiting for them to attain 13%. The cool nights are keeping the acidity up. There is some noble rot developing, especially at Le Vigneau in Vouvray itself, and we hope we can make some sweet wine.

Although our old vines got frosted between 20%-30%, overall our potential yields are not bad – between 35-40 hl/ha. 

Montlouis 

Although parts of Vouvray have clearly been hit hard by the frost etc., Montlouis unfortunately looks to have come of worst. When we saw François Chidaine and Jacky Blot last Thursday both were pessimistic. François thought what little there was to be harvested would be picked this week, while Jacky said it would be surprised if they managed 10hl/ha. On the other hand he said the Cabernet Franc at La Butte (Bourgueil) was magnificent. Being on a slope his Bourgueil had escaped the April frost. Picking here wouldn't start before the middle of October.       

 Vines on the plateau above Rochecorbon 

The speck just above the vines is a Ryanair 

plane coming in to land at Tours Airport

 Picking machine in transit 

 Chenin Blanc in a vineyard above Rochecorbon 

Looked to reasonable quality but a small crop. Some botrytis developing. 

With the current fine weather this could be interesting.

(above and below) 

Mildewed leaf – one of the 'icons' of 2016!