Loire is dead at retail

I know there are a lot of great bottles out there but for retail its dead.

I was in Binnys today and its $15 for a regular appellation Loire from an average house, the entire Loire section was maybe 1 bottle, Bdx was maybe 200+ and Napa was 300+ there are just no loire wines for people to buy.

Even if you want to buy Loire its not there at Binnys, you have to seek it out

“Loire is dead at the retail store I go to”

Dude. Loire is dead ‘cause Fu don’t touch it, not even on IG. The only bottle of Loire he owns he is saving for me.

Cccccccccccccccombo breaker

How about your local supermarket? Do they have any Baudry? If not, it means Nobody likes Baudry and it cannot sell.

Of course it’s Alfert lol.

Oops! I have my head in the clouds, so everyone tells me.

I went to my local supermarket today and they had zero bottles of wine from the Loire. So I can confirm it’s completely dead at retail internationally.

I’d say Loire sweet wines are dead, unfortunately. Really tough to find anything other than Huet 1ere Trie, Foreau Reserve, Baumard QDC, Moulin Touchas CDL or the occasional library release from Pinon these days. I know a lot of producers that are in the market make dessert wines, but the importers just aren’t bringing them in.

lol, well played.

It’s ok champ – you’re always #1 in my book!

My mom, and my wife and my Secretary, use the term “special”. Either works for me.

PS. Avoid 2015 Plouzeau. They suck.

If Huet sec was still $22 a bottle, it would move faster!

What! I’m basically a Loire master. Just trying to keep prices down by not talking about it

The walrus was… the Loire???

All joking and snark aside, I’d be curious what demand is like for Loire reds and whites these days. It’s obviously a very small category in the wine retail world, but I’m curious if interest/demand is growing or shrinking. I definitely don’t think it’s enjoying any sort of boom right now, but beyond that, I don’t have a feel for it.

Just speaking for myself personally, my interest in the reds is steady at a lowish level and declining on the whites due a rash of disappointing or premoxed Huets and Chidaines in the last couple of years. I opened a premoxed 2014 Huet Le Haut Lieu Sec a few weeks ago. Maybe I just need to discover some different white producers there.

+1

My local experience is that it has grown a lot in the past five years, driven by younger wine consumers. I’m speaking only for the shop I work, of course.

Caught. Rougeard aside, it’s dead because Alfert and a few of us NY market makers / speculators have formed a secret cabal. (Oops, did I let it slip? Sorry about that.) We are hunting them down and hoarding them all, looking to corner the market for the big score to come. Get ready for the insta onslaught. (I’m currently recruiting 20-something hipstas, NYC somms, and NBA stars to do the leg work. But keep that on the DL.)

I have about 8-9 cases of Huet alone and am looking forward to them all going Rousseau Chambertin on me.