011 Vintage

[Lou Kessler]

What is the word on 011 in the Loire, especially Huet? Thanks

 

[Sharon Bowman]

But in any case, SFJoe's Loire notes would be the place to look, it'd seem.

 

[Rahsaan]

It would seem. But it appears that this year our faithful correspondent did not taste at Huet: Chenin

 

[Sharon Bowman]

Right, I looked at that, but it does have some good comments on the vintage in the Loire in general.

 

[Tom Glasgow]

Kissack and Budd have both posted notes about the 2011 Huets on their blogs.

 

[SFJoe]

As has Richard Kelly, which is where I'd start. He used to sell the wines.

I think '11 was a tough vintage but they did a good job with it.

I have not tasted all the wines, sadly.

 

[Yixin]

Tough vintage for a fair stretch of the Loire. Good people made good wines. Some nice things happening in the Centre; I finally relented and we now import a Sancerre producer.

2012 is grim - frost and mildew, not a nice combination.

 

[Sharon Bowman]

Maybe they can market it as frildew, the sexy new flavor that's taking hold.

 

[Unknown]

011 is so happy Downstairs at Eric's

 

[Mike Hinds]

originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
Maybe they can market it as frildew, the sexy new flavor that's taking hold.

"Frildew" is the most awesome wine related term since "fertigation," which sounds like something Dick Cheney would advocate ("We'll fertigate the enemy out of his hole...").

 

[Yixin]

Just to be clear, it's also grim because of reduced yields. It's easy to forget about quantity as quality-chasing consumers, but every non-productive vine means lost income.