We spent a couple of hours with Juliette and Peter Hahn on Saturday as they prepare for the 2019 harvest.
The 2018 that is still in barrel is to be bottled tomorrow. We were lucky enough to have a taste of the individual parcels which is always interesting. The Clos de la Meslerie has 4 plots that surround the house, a north, south, east and west plot. We compared the wine from the north plot with that of the south. So different! The wine from the south plot is rich and ripe, creamy and luscious while the wine from the north, while equally delicious, is noticeably tighter and higher in acidity.
Peter only makes around 7,000 bottle of Vouvray in an average year so there isn’t the possibility of bottling 4 separate wines. In some ways this is a shame and then you realise that when the 4 plots are blended together, they create a perfect wine that is totally balanced. The richness from the south plot is tempered by the freshness of the south and the wines from the east and west plots also have different characteristics that are totally complementary.
It looks like volumes will be lower than last year due to some sunburn and a little frost damage. We have had so little rain since mid May that the berries are quite small although I have to say that Peter’s looked in very good health and bigger than many we see driving around the Vouvray plateau.
