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François Pinon Vouvray Cuvée Tradition 2004

I teetered on the side of the trailer, one hand holding on to the cold and wet steel, the other thrust deep into my pocket, shielded from the chilly October breeze that blew across the vines of Les Déronnières. Underfoot, the trailer frame was slick with a combination of recent rainfall and sugar-rich grape juice, a treacherous surface which offered little in the way of grip. It was a precarious position I had ascended to, but it was worth it for the view; not only did I have sight of the harvest team in the distance as they worked their way swiftly through the vines under the direction of Julien Pinon, I also had a close-up view of the fruit as it arrived at the trailer.

Each hod-carrier bringing fruit from the vines ascended the stout wooden ladder leant against the side of the trailer, but rather than depositing their precious load of rain-splattered grapes directly within, it was cast onto the purpose-built stainless steel sorting table set across the top. Another harvest worker, in a similar position to me on the opposite side of the trailer (but looking rather more sure-footed) then methodically sorted through the bunches, casting healthy fruit into the waiting trailer below, while rejected grapes were unceremoniously swept aside.

A meticulous approach to sorting can be the difference between failure and success in a challenging vintage. So convinced was the late François Pinon of this that he installed this trailer-top sorting table; the first was handmade, fashioned from wood by François himself, and it saw service during many of his harvests, and it may still have been in use during the wet 2004 harvest, which provides me with my Weekend Wine choice. In later years, though, he replaced his wooden table with a made-to-measure stainless steel surface, the one which was still in use when I went to see the equally damp 2024 harvest (described above) supervised by Julien Pinon.

François Pinon Vouvray Cuvée Tradition 2004

The 2004 vintage was one of the more challenging of the early 21st century. Some corners of the Loire Valley faired better than others though, and Vouvray enjoyed a decent summer. Nevertheless the fine weather that characterised September came to an abrupt end with the arrival of heavy rain in October, disrupting the harvest; the 2004 crop came in wet, and lacking a little concentration. As a consequence the focus was very much on producing sparkling wines, or sec cuvées, rather than chasing the residual sugar required for a demi-sec or moelleux cuvée.

At the time François Pinon was in the habit of producing a demi-sec under the name Cuvée Tradition, and it remained part of the Pinon portfolio up to and including the 2009 vintage, after which it was usurped by the recently introduced Les Trois Argiles and Silex Noir cuvées. As noted above the 2004 vintage was not really a year for demi-sec or moelleux, but François did not necessarily bow to the perceived constraints of a given vintage, as seen in 1992 when he produced the 1992 Vouvray Vendanges Tardives, in doing so being the only vigneron in the entire appellation to produce a moelleux cuvée. That vintage was largely destined for sec or maybe a little demi-sec, but François held on and picked for moelleux, producing a rather bright and lemon-fresh wine with an admirable 48 g/l of residual sugar.

So too in 2004; having picked and meticulously sorted his crop, François put his low expectations to one side and pulled from his harvest the fruit he needed for his Cuvée Tradition. Reflecting the vintage it ended up less demi-sec and more sec tendre (so still with a touch of sweetness but not at the demi-sec level, a halfway house between sec and demi-sec), and I think it was a success. The wine is still going strong twenty years later (and this week’s bottle is not the last from my cellar).

In the glass the 2004 Vouvray Cuvée Tradition from François Pinon presents a polished lemon-gold hue, bright and clean. Aromatically it feels classic and pure, with layers of dried peach skin and honeysuckle, set with nuances of an evolved and smoky toast, all dusted with white pepper. It feels polished and confident, and this is reflected on the palate which starts off powdery with a delicate sec tendre sweetness, countered by a little citrus bitterness which courses beneath before building to a more dominant role in the midpalate. This has a lovely grip, with plenty of grapefruit and orange bitterness, fine energy and punchy but integrated acidity, before it all fades slowly in the finish. It finishes drier than you might expect, but there is a broad energy and silky substance which is built from its residual sugar. A mouth-watering if perhaps not overly complex wine at just over twenty years, this nevertheless far exceeded my expectations from this vintage, and it still brims with potential. The alcohol declared on the label is 12.5%. 92/100 (10/3/25)

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