DOMAINE HUET

BIODYNAMIC VOUVRAY

“...this estate has been the pre-eminent property in Vouvray for decades.” Robert Parker, The World’s Greatest Wine Estates

Widely considered to be the single greatest Vouvray domaine and one of the foremost white wine producers in the world today, Domaine Huet l'Echansonnet (as they are known in full) should require little introduction. We are now very fortunate to have both Huet, the established benchmark of Vouvray, and François Chidaine, the rising star, in our stable. These are two of the finest producers of Chenin Blanc the world has seen. Domaine Huet is run by Noël Pinguet, son in law of Gaston Huet. Pinguet has effectively been running the Domaine since the early 90’s and gained full control on Gaston Huet’s passing in 2002. Although the domaine was already famous when he arrived, Pinguet has unquestionably taken the Domaine to even greater heights. Biodynamic techniques have applied since 1990 at all of the vineyards. Yields have dropped and fruit selection has become more extreme. Pinguet is also an advocate of very precise and gentle pressing for Chenin and only the juice of the first, lightest pressing makes it into his wines. Today Pinguet has an understudy, Benjamin Joliveau, and a slow and careful transition is occurring from one man to the other.
The wines are bottled and labelled according to their three vineyard sites which are described below. Each vineyard expresses unique characteristics and each can be made in 3 styles, subject to vintage conditions: Sec (bone dry), Demi-Sec (off dry, typically 10-20 g/lt residual) and Moelleux (slightly sweeter at approximately 30 g/lt). If the vintage allows, each vineyard may produce a Moelleux 1er Trie (the first picking of botrytised berries) that produces a wine with residual sugar of about 60-100 g/lt and yet also with very high acidity. Like all great “sweet” wines of the world, the wines from demi sec onwards taste deceptively dry because of the terrific sugar/acid balance. These are excellent food wines and should not be thought of as “dessert wines” to be served exclusively at the end of the meal. Rather they are far better at the start of the meal or with delicate cheeses. The exception can be the “super cuvee” Cuvee Constance which is made in the right years from a blend of the most concentrated botrytised fruit from all three vineyards. As The Wine Advocate notes below suggest, this is truly one of the great sweet wines of the world.
All the grapes for the wines of Domaine Huet are hand harvested with multiple passes or tries through the vineyard. This enables the selection of only the best bunches of botrytised grapes. No malolactic fermentation and no new oak is used in the maturation process, with the aim being to retain the freshness and purity of the fruit.
These are remarkable wines: fantastically aromatic, they dance across the palate with a zest and an intensity that seems other worldly. They are constantly evolving both in the glass and in the bottle and live for decades. We offer a 1945 below that is drinking beautifully and shows no signs of tiring!

Le Mont

Le Mont is a steep, rocky, 8-hectare vineyard that sits atop the chalky Vouvray hillside, overlooking Tours. The soils are very stony (limestone) and there is a greenish band of calcareous clay running close to the surface. This is a site that typically produces mineral and nervy wines so it is mostly dry and off dry whites that are produced from Le Mont.

Le Haut Lieu

The 9 ha Le Haut Lieu vineyard sits on deep brown clay (known as aubuis) with some chalky topsoil. Here the yellow limestone (tuffeau) bedrock lies up to four metres down, making a heavier soil that produces round, supple wines that can drink very well young. Mind you, that’s not to say the wine of Le Haut Lieu don’t have the capacity to age deliciously. We have enjoyed bottles from the 40’s that are still drinking very well!

Le Clos du Bourg

This walled vineyard is perhaps Vouvray’s most revered site (along with Clos Baudin). Generally regarded as the greatest of the three Huet vineyards, it makes some of the most powerful, long lived wines in Vouvray. With only a shallow top soil over solid tuffeau limestone, the vines almost immediately tap into the rich mineral resource underfoot, resulting in powerful, dense, yet very mineral and long-lived Chenin. The walls of the Clos are also said to help facilitate a more humid macro-climate favourable to botrytis. Accordingly, some legendary sweet wines have been produced here.