2022 Vouvray, Plaisir Ancestral, Domaine Vincent Carême, Loire

2022 Vouvray, Plaisir Ancestral, Domaine Vincent Carême, Loire

Product: 20221368253
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2022 Vouvray, Plaisir Ancestral, Domaine Vincent Carême, Loire

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Description

Plaisir Ancestral is Vincent’s petillant naturel-style wine, but with disgorgement so that the yeast is removed resulting in a clear wine. No sugar is added at all, and the result is dry, at just two grams per litre of total sugar. It’s a serious sparkling wine that works well with food thanks to its intensely dry and mineral finish. The youthful 2022 is delicate and energetic, with a very fine mousse and chalky texture. There are notes of quince, pear and custard, and this should gain breadth and complexity with age as the biscuity autolysis aromas develop further.

Adam Bruntlett, Fine Wine Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd

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About this WINE

Vincent Carême

Vincent Carême

Vincent Carême is a leading light of the Vouvray appellation who set up his domaine from scratch in 1999. His is not a family business – his parents are cereal farmers – but his rise to prominence has been nothing short of meteoric. A pioneer of organic viticulture in the Loire, he teaches at the Lycée Viticole in Amboise and acts as a mentor to many younger growers in the region.

The estate makes the full range of wines: sparkling, sec, demi-sec, and moelleux, and the 24 hectares of vines used to produce his domaine wines are organically certified. Initially, as a means of raising capital but now a way of satisfying burgeoning demand for his wines, he also set up a ‘négociant’ business buying grapes and juice to make wines under the Vincent & Tania Carême label. Not satisfied with making some of the finest wines in the Loire, Vincent also makes a range of wines in the Swartland in South Africa.

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Vouvray

Vouvray

Based just outside Tours, in the Touraine district of the Loire, the small, 2,000-hectare semi-continental Vouvray appellation covers a range of dry, through off-dry, sweet to sparkling styles. Its Chenin Blanc vineyards, perched above chalky tuffeau cliffs give the wines vibrant acidity and a stony, floral and at times waxy character.

Ideally, under perfect skies, the producers aim for moelleux sweet wines, hand-harvested by trie, often imbued with noble rot and rich with residual sugar.

A less successful season would deliver more demi-sec, sec and, if really tough, sparkling mousseaux. Vinification is principally in large, inert vessels such as stainless-steel, old oak foudres and demi-muids. Malolactic fermentation is avoided.

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Chenin Blanc

Chenin Blanc

Chenin Blanc is an important white grape variety planted in the Anjou-Saumur and Touraine regions of the Loire Valley and the most widely planted varietal grape in South Africa.

In the Loire it produces high quality dry wines in Savenniéres, and luscious sweet, dessert wines in Coteaux du Layon, Bonnezeaux and Quarts de Chaume. In Vouvray and Montlouis it can be dry, medium dry, or sweet, and still or sparkling. Whether dry or sweet, the best Loire Chenin Blancs possess marvellously concentrated rich, honeyed fruit together with refreshingly vibrant acidity. It is Chenin Blanc's high acidity that enable the wines to age so well.

In South Africa Chenin Blanc is easier to grow and is prized for its versatility. It is used as a cheap blending option with Chardonnay, Colombard, and Muscat but also bottled unblended. The best producers keep their yields low and produce impressive mouthfilling wines.

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When is a wine ready to drink?

We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.

Not ready

These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.

Ready - youthful

These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.

Ready - at best

These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.

Ready - mature

These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.