Wine Advisor
Huet, Vouvray Le Haut Lieu Sec 2016
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Stephan Reinhardt
From the nine-hectare original vineyard of the Huet family, the 2016 Vouvray Le Haut-Lieu Sec shows a citrus color followed by an intense, fresh and chalky-mineral bouquet with lemon and some blossom aromas. Aged in demi-muids and bottled in April 2017, this is a medium-bodied, round, elegant, remarkably lush and delicate Chenin Blanc from calcareous clay soils. The residual sugar of seven grams per liter gives a beautiful exotic fruitiness and balance, the fine tannins a good structure. The 2016 is truly a pleasant Vouvray that already drinks perfectly. Tasted February 2018.
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.
