Wine Advisor
Huet, Vouvray Clos du Bourg Moelleux Premiere Trie 2018
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Stephan Reinhardt
The 2018 Vouvray Clos du Bourg Moelleux Première Trie is fine, pure and vital on the remarkably complex nose, initially with white asparagus and mushroom aromas, but with more aeration, fresh toast, oak and flinty notes take over. The palate is sweet and lush but serious, vibrantly fresh and highly elegant, provided with fine and lingering tannins as well as a lovely touch of fresh oak. Still sweet but delicate and vital, it has a highly attractive juiciness that is structured but serious, along with firm tannins extracted from the oak barrels. The darker toned, Pinot-like Première Trie is perhaps even finer and saltier than the beautifully balanced and finessed regular Moelleux and needs more time to integrate all its components. Tasted in May 2019.
Reviewed by: Yohan Castaing
Notes of white truffle, spices, ripe orchard fruits and baked pear preface the 2018 Vouvray Clos du Bourg Moelleux Première Trie—a dense, concentrated and fleshy wine of impressive depth. Perfectly balanced, it is framed by bright acidity and a touch of gastronomic bitterness that adds tension and complexity. Saline and mineral on the long, focused finish, this is a superb rendition of one of Vouvray’s great terroirs. Residual sugar: 78 grams per liter.
About the Producer
Since its founding in 1928, Vouvray’s Domaine Huet has been the standard-bearer for great, age-worthy Chenin Blanc. And to this day, year after year, the estate produces some of the world’s most compelling white wines—and in a remarkable range that spans sparkling, dry, semi-dry, and breathtaking dessert styles. Chenin Blanc has been identified with Vouvray since at least the 9th century, and many of its great vineyards were known by the 14th century. By those standards, the 90+-year-old Huet estate is relatively young. Yet it was this youngster that established, once and for all, that Vouvray was capable of world-class quality. The domaine’s founder, Victor Huët, was a Parisian bistro owner. However, with lungs and nerves shattered by his experiences in WWI, Victor re-settled to the town of Vouvray in France’s beautiful Loire Valley. He soon purchased the first of his great vineyards, Le Haut-Lieu, in 1928, and Domaine Huet was born. The Grand Crus For all his salesmanship, Gaston understood clearly that quality must come first—and that quality started with great vineyards. His Le Haut-Lieu parcel, which lies on Vouvray’s “Première Côte” (or “first slope”), is home to virtually all the appellation’s acknowledged grand cru vineyards. As the estate prospered in the post-WWII era, Gaston secured two additional prime vineyards on the Première Côte that would ensure the domaine’s stature: Le Mont (purchased in 1957) and Clos du Bourg (farmed since 1953, purchased in 1963). Collectively, these three vineyards, and the wines made from them, account for Huet being the greatest of all Vouvray producers.
