- Actualités
- The Vineyards of Centre-Loire
- Caves et producteurs
- Palmarès
- Words of wines
- Salle de presse
- Liens
- Contacts
Vintages
Choose a vintage:
2007 vintage: Aromas and Firmness for a Vintage Miraculously Saved
Warm spring – cool and rainy summer, these inverted seasons marked this year's climate. Fortunately, during the all-important late summer period, nature presented a gift of 29 miraculous days to ripen the grapes.
The viticultural season
A memorably warm month of April then the months of May and June warmer and wetter than average; a cool and damp early and mid-summer followed by a dry late summer with moderate temperatures. This is the climate that has made the 2007 vintage.
Until the end of August, worried winemakers surveyed their vineyards. After an early budburst, the risk of frost became a serious concern. Work in the vineyard needed to be performed quickly due to the rapid growth of the vines which were already three weeks in advance by the beginning of June. The threat of cryptogamic diseases such as mildew and rot required total vigilance and they were well-controlled overall and qualitatively inconsequential for the rare parcels that were affected.
The fear of a difficult ripening was the main topic of conversation in the first days following the véraison (change of color of the grapes). Then starting 24 August, just what everyone was hoping for arrived: a dry and cold north wind blew in to dry and clean up the soil and vines. This was followed by warmer days and cool nights and mornings with abundant dew.
Ripening
In these conditions, sugar production was accelerated and the degradation of acids was slowed. The assimilation of water by the berries having been well-regulated by the drying of the air and the soil, the phenomenon of concentration appeared in certain parcels. This became widespread in the red grapes in the beginning of September which intensified color and quality of tannins.
The aromas of the white grapes were slowly developed during the ripening stage which was long despite the precocity of the year.
The harvest
The harvest period began between 3 and 13 September, but the parcels were picked as the grapes became ready over the span of a month. The red grapes were picked first. The white grapes were harvested during the last three weeks of September and beginning of October. This particularly long period reflects the flowering periods which were spread out until maturity and the wisdom of the winemakers who patiently waited for the optimum moment to harvest.
First impressions
First impressions from the vats suggest wines of good typicity, lively and with expressive aromas. In whites as well as reds, potential for aging appears excellent.
The whites exhale a palette of intense aromas as varied as the diversity of their terroirs. Floral aromas dominate accompanied by fruity, vegetal or mineral notes depending on their origins. The balance in the mouth is characterized by a very present acidity which, combined with the potential provided by the grapes' natural richness in sugar, yields wines that are simultaneously full and firm.
In the reds, with their ruby-red colors, we rediscover the beautiful fruity aromas of the freshly harvested parcels. Their tannins are supple and often concentrated. Upon devatting, a point of nervousness appears, but there is no doubt that they have the depth, after malolactic fermentation and aging, to take on roundness and fullness.