tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456611623448834500.post7239724505351872261..comments2023-12-18T15:03:52.326+00:00Comments on Jim's Loire: Much improved Loire sweet wines: global warming or viticulture?CRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12356808627188214016noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456611623448834500.post-60312299194427123542012-02-20T16:44:31.564+00:002012-02-20T16:44:31.564+00:00Luc. Thanks 2002 may not be the richest vintage bu...Luc. Thanks 2002 may not be the richest vintage but the wines, especially the whites, have great balance.Jim's Loirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06696024920441263899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456611623448834500.post-80242431499876173852012-02-20T13:22:50.300+00:002012-02-20T13:22:50.300+00:00Jim,
We love you, as you know.
Doesn’t mean we a...Jim,<br /><br /><br />We love you, as you know.<br />Doesn’t mean we always agree.<br />You pointed out – rightly so – on another blog I had failed to mention Chenin as one provider of great fizz.<br />As far as “sweet” wines – unfortified, that is – are concerned, I would certainly NOT have omitted it. It comes only second to riesling.<br />The answer to your question is OBVIOUS: great wine-making makes the difference; hard work, observation, selective picking, good sense and good taste.<br /><br />I often collect grenache at over 1120 density, and I’m sure a lot of good growers in Mosel, Franconia, Rhine Palatinate, in Alsace, in the whole of the Loire area and at many other places (Austria, Cima Corgo, Andalusia, Sicily, Setúbal, Cyprus, Tunisia ... you name it) do the same. Afterwards, it’s down to liking the stuff and doing what’s right. No added sugar needs to be involved.<br /><br />My latest great stuff from your district was a “young” ¼ Chaume by Claude Papin, 2002, not exactly the most illustrious of vintages, but truly outstanding.Luc Charliernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456611623448834500.post-16587503375402033192012-02-20T10:54:48.039+00:002012-02-20T10:54:48.039+00:00Thanks Charles. As you say it is also having the b...Thanks Charles. As you say it is also having the belief and confidence that it is possible.Jim's Loirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06696024920441263899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456611623448834500.post-45005948655783768962012-02-20T10:06:59.689+00:002012-02-20T10:06:59.689+00:00Nice one, Jim!
The huge changes are illustrated b...Nice one, Jim!<br /><br />The huge changes are illustrated by an interesting comment from a Bonnezeaux producer in 1989 : 'I picked at 16° potential - never seen anything like it in my life - so I chaptalised up to 19°'<br /><br />I asked why - and am still bemused by the answer, which was 'if I don't chaptalise in a year like this, when will I?'.<br /><br />Which leads me to Stéphane Branchereau's comment a few years back ... sitting on the Onnis vineyard at the top of Chaume, he compared the year with 1987, suggesting the conditions were similar, but that the real difference was that back in '87 they'd probably picked at 11° and chaptalised up to 18 but that 'this year' they'd get 18 or more if they harvested by machine (which they wouldn't) and he went on to pick seperate tris at between 18 and 23° potential.<br /><br />So you're 100% right - the difference isn't that half a degree warming in the last 20 years. The difference is called hard work and the willingness to go that extra mile. The 'mental' as they call it here. It's in vine growing and vineyard management and in the willingness to risk all in the search for quality.Charles Sydneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14323729264354199709noreply@blogger.com