2005 'Rémus' Montlouis, Domaine de la Taille aux Loups
Last night we had a bottle of the 2005 Rémus, Jacky Blot's top dry Montlouis as an apero. This Rémus reflects its year with its rich fruit and relatively low acidity. It lacks, however, the tension and precision that is apparent in the 2007s and 2008s, which will need time to shown their best. The 2005 is more a crowd pleaser – nothing wrong in that but long term I fancy the 07 and the 08 will often prove to be the better wines.
This illustrates, I think, the difficulty of trying to classify the overall quality of Loire vintages because of the diversity of wines made. By general consent 2005 is a very good vintage for reds but it is not necessarily the top for dry whites because the hot weather that is likely to produce a good red vintage may well not be ideal for dry whites either from Chenin Blanc or Sauvignon Blanc. Here the varieties are better served by the long, slow ripening cycle of 2008. Equally, although the sweet wines of 2005 are attractive again they don't have the thrilling purity of 2007. In contrast 2007 reds are well below the level of 2005.
Given the difficulty of remembering the quality of vintages around the world it makes sense that people look for a short cut, so the attraction of a quick global assessment of a region is understandable. I am, however, increasingly aware that this does not really work for the Loire.
