Loire 2003

The Loire Valley is one of those places, like England and Germany, where vignerons can't believe the sugar levels in their grapes this year. Here's an up-to-the-minute report from Loire-based wine broker Charles Sydney which I am including mainly for the extraordinary illustration.

Just back from a couple of days in Muscadet and the Touraine...

2003 in the Loire is looking pretty exceptional – the harvests seem to be the earliest since 1893 (with 1947 the 'other' great vintage) – with some growers reckoning to have finished picking a week before they'd even started back in 1989...!

So things are...