A (Very!) Early Look at the 2024 Vintage for Loire Cabernet Franc

No.39 | Regional Reporting

There is an expression in the Loire that September can make (or break) the vintage. When I began reaching out to producers at the end of August inquiring about when would be a good time to visit during harvest to help and to catch some of the action, many said it was too early to tell and that given the way the vintage had gone, harvest was going to be later usual. By mid-September, many estimated that they would start harvesting Cabernet Franc between the 3rd to the 7th or so of October and that harvest would last a couple of weeks. So, I booked my flights to be in the region between the 12th and the 18th with the hopes of seeing a broad spectrum of the harvest in action. Well, as the saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men… and suffice it to say, Mother Nature had other plans.

The 2024 Vintage, in Brief

After a relatively mild and unassuming start to the vintage, I just happened to be in Chinon in mid-April as the vignerons were going through a few sleepless nights on frost w…