2016 Loires at Millésime Bio and BioTop + Charles Sydney Wines tasting

Eddy & Mileine Oosterlinck - Bracke – vedettes de BioTop

Domaine de Juchepie

From a post on Les 5 du Vin: 24.1.2017

The annual Charles Sydney tasting in London last Thursday (19.1.2017) was my first opportunity to have a look at some of the Loire 2016s. Yes I tasted some 2016 juice and partially fermented wines back in late September/October of 2016 but nothing since.

The vast majority of the 2016s on show were white with a few rosés – almost no reds. Given that 2016 was a late vintage in today’s terms with much of the picking done during October it is hardly a surprise that there were few reds to try. A late vintage also means that the development overall of the 2016s is well behind that of say earlier vintages such as 2009 and 2011.

My impression remains that 2016 lies between 2015 and 2014 – not as round, opulent and crowd pleasing as 2015 but equally less marked by the attractive but noticeable acidity  of 2014. Despite the series of plagues – frost, mildew and sunburn –  nature sent in 2016 to flay producers in Northern France, there are good wines here. Unfortunately in some appellations quantities are very limited many due the frosts at the end of April 2016.

Although I was surprised that a number were quite lean and austere at this stage. However, I suspect that in a few months many of these will have put on more flesh.

It is really too early in the development of these wines to pick out favourites. The next opportunity to taste plenty of Loire 2016s will be in Marseille at Millésime Bio and BioTop at the beginning of next week. Rapidly followed by the Renaissance tasting (4th-5th Feb) and the Salon des Vins de Loire in Angers. After that there is the first edition of Vinovision in Paris, which may well be a Salon too far for me. We’ll see…..'

Chris Hardy, who has taken over 

the running of Charles Sydney Wines 

from Charles and Philippa Sydney.

In comparison to Charles Loire producers 

are already seeing a considerably more relaxed style 

Update 1st February 2017:
It is interesting tasting the Loires at Millésime Bio and BioTop this week. Overall they are more open and less austere than they tended to be in London on 19th January. I have tasted mainly 2016 whites to date and many have good concentration and balance. Despite the very difficult conditions during the year – April frosts, very heavy rain and floods at end of May/early June, then mildew and sun burn in July and August, 2016 looks to make it a trio of good Loire vintages thanks to a fine September and October. Unfortunately for a significant number of producers quantities are tiny.  

 

   

Further posts to come.

2017 Millésime Bio 4 – Vinisud 0

Millésime Bio 30.1.2017

All the reports coming out of Vinisud suggest that the organisers of Vinisud made a bad mistake in deciding to go virtually head to head with Millésime Bio. These reports come from people who have been at both fairs. Apparently Vinisud (Sunday 29th to Tuesday 31st) had its busiest day on Sunday even though it was pretty quiet with people thinking that Monday would bring more visitors. This proved to be a false hope with even fewer visitors reported on Monday. In contrast Millésime Bio has seen a good crowd, except on the opening morning when security checks meant that it could take an hour or more to get in. The much smaller BioTop also attracted a good number of visitors on both its days – Monday and Tuesday.   

Whether producers who have paid for their stands and accommodation, unless they happen to live in or near Montpellier, will decide to go to the 2018 edition of Vinsud remains to be seen. 

La mort de Vinisud ? Vincent Pousson's take on Vinisud

Organic 'bombshell'! – Millésime Bio leaves Montpellier for Marseille

'Coup de tonnerre dans la filière viti-vinicole régionale : le plus grand salon international de vins bio a voté en conseil d’administration, le 13 juin, son départ de LRMP pour la région PACA. En cause : un désaccord avec Vinisud, l’autre salon montpelliérain.' 

Marie Corbel of La Tribune has broken the news that Millésime Bio, the world's largest annual organic wine fair, has suddenly decided to leave Montpellier for Marseille for the 2017 edition. After using a number of different venues including Narbonne, Millésime Bio has been a fixture at Montpellier for some time.

It appears that the row is over the decision by Vinisud, to hold their now annual Mediterranean wine fair (always in Montpellier) in 2017 at the same time as Millésime Bio at the end of January. Clearly Millésime Bio did not want to share Montpellier's exhibition space with Vinisud, where there would be many non-organic wine producers. 

The decision was taken yesterday by Millésime Bio's organising committee. There was only one vote for staying put, while there were also some who favoured Toulouse or Bordeaux. 

Carole Delga, the président of Languedoc-Roussillon, is reportedly furious at this decision by the Millésime Bio committee, which she considers rushed as there were hopes that a solution could be found. Corbel reports that Delga likened the sudden decision to 'Des méthodes de voyou' – the way hooligans' behave. 

Read the rest here

•••

The 2107 Millésime Bio will be held at the Parc des Expositions Marseille-Chanot, du 30 janvier au 1er février 2017.

It remains to be seen whether this decision by Millésime Bio is wise. Will all of the 800 or so exhibitors opt for Marseille? Will a number of producers in the Languedoc-Roussillon and other parts of the Mediterranean opt to stay in Montpellier and exhibit at Vinisud? A number of these producers already take stands at both Vinisud and Millésime Bio, which have previously be held about three weeks apart.

By moving to Marseille Millésime Bio will lose the 300,000€ it currently receives from the Languedoc-Roussillon region. 

For myself I will have to cancel the hotel room I had already booked. Then wait to see how many producers, especially those from the Loire decide to go to Marseille. A suivre !

Clearly the politics of wine shows are by no means sulphur free!