Editorial: An oceanic vintage with a fresh breeze!

Editorial

An oceanic vintage with a fresh breeze!

Mac Mahon’s words (“So much water!”) were on everyone’s lips whenever anyone dared to ask for an overall impression of 2024, followed closely by the sad mention of the cryptogamic fungus. Yet, coming out of this en primeur sequence marked by general anxiety, where people seemed already to be preparing for the worst (almost in anticipation), we find ourselves discoursing on the successes of an odd vintage that called for disruption and a deft touch to be tamed. We were told over and over that this vintage, with its low alcohol levels, demanded that the juices be cherished, the oak lightly applied, the tannins ripe, and that a tiny touch of vegetal character be accepted — the pyrazine often tolerated by worshippers of Loire Cabernet Franc. In the worst cases, heavy oak intake and very present acidity combined with coarse tannins denatured the wines. The good papers handed in recalled the bone sketches of a young Rembrandt more than the opulence of a Botticelli. A form of asceticism that would in no way mortgage, incidentally, the keeping capacity of some of the wines encountered. We were also told at leisure that one had to have respected one’s terroir, its ability to deliver healthy grapes as ripe as this vintage allowed. It is noted that clay terroirs generally weathered the climatic conditions of 2024 better, with Cabernets picked after 5 October that were able to enjoy fine windows of sunshine. “Total” downy mildew forced careful sorting. The Derenoncourt Vignerons Consultants team pointed out that “mastery of the health status often guided the harvest decision; the crucial step of meticulous grape sorting harmonises the quality of the harvest on entry to the cellar. This precision made it possible to reduce vegetal sensations and to benefit from the fine ripeness of the pips.” The dry whites and sweet wines prove to be astonishingly fresh, provided the acid balance was well managed. As the technicians at Derenoncourt Vignerons Consultants also stressed: “the whites benefited from fine ripening conditions. They offer explosive noses, a completed ripeness, revealing a generous and diverse aromatic palette.”

Overall, we tasted expressive and welcoming red wines, dominated by fresh-fruit aromas, floral nuances and delicate spices. In most cases, we encountered slender and rather stretched tannic structures. In short, one had to have tasted before commenting on, and very often burying, a vintage all about incisive freshness. Let us turn into Sisyphus and proclaim each time it is needed that this is a vintage of oceanic freshness and reconquest.

As last year, Féret will deliver its ratings and comments following the long Primeurs 2024 tasting campaign (7 to 17 April). The panel of expert tasters was made up of Bernard Grandchamp, Étienne Khemtémourian, Gianni Degl’Innocenti and Yves Raymond.

🤝 New partnership: these Féret ratings and comments will be relayed in the magazine Sommeliers International due out by the end of June.

Faithfully yours,

Henry Clemens, publication director