France · Loire · Touraine · Vouvray White · Still · wine-wine · 1235919
Lowest offer: 22.70 GBP (Buy)
Offers: 2 · Bids: 0
| Price / case | Vintage | Packing | Qty | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 136.20 GBP | 2013 | 6 x 75cl | 1 | uk / United Kingdom |
| 193.00 GBP | 2016 | 6 x 75cl | 1 | uk / United Kingdom |
No active bids.
| Vintage | Packing | Offers | Bids | Market price | WA rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1964 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 21644.52 | |
| 1964 | 6 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 10822.26 | |
| 1989 | 12 x 37.5cl | 0 | 0 | 4157.46 | |
| 1989 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 8314.92 | |
| 2005 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 3715.20 | 89 |
| 2008 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 3779.52 | |
| 2009 | 6 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 90 | |
| 2011 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 4868.28 | |
| 2012 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 92 | |
| 2013 | 6 x 75cl | 1 | 0 | 91 | |
| 2014 | 6 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2015 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 3292.08 | 93 |
| 2015 | 6 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 1646.04 | 93 |
| 2016 | 6 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 90 | |
| 2017 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 3432.60 | 93 |
| 2017 | 6 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 1716.30 | 93 |
| 2019 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 3559.68 | 95 |
| 2021 | 6 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 93 |
Rating: 92 –92
The 2019 Sec Le Haut-Lieu is classy, polished and simply impeccable. Soft, silky contours wrap around a core of peach and lemon confit fruit. The first impression is all about texture. White flowers, pear and white pepper are some of the nuances that emerge over time, adding complexity, while clean, minerally notes grace the exquisite finish.
Rating: 95 –95
The deep brown clay soils of the Haut-Lieu plateau provide the typical fruitiness and freshness wonderfully in Huet's 2019 Vouvray Le Haut-Lieu Sec. Ripe pear, tangerine and orange fruits with notes of lemon grass and green pimientos intertwined with very fine chalky and later tobacco notes give a remarkably fine, elegant and harmonious, subtly complex and simply gorgeous bouquet with floral (lime blossom!) and yeasty aromas that are immediately attractive. Delicate and linear on the palate, this is a pure, fresh, bone-dry, lean and textured, highly refined and perfectly interwoven Chenin with persistent purity, finesse, salty-mineral tension and very fine tannins. Highly finessed and so pure and vivacious! This is a chalky picture-book Haut-Lieu that can age for many years, even though it is already dangerously seductive! There was no dry Le Haut-Lieu produced in 2018, but the 2019 is possibly the finest, most delicate and elegant I've had in recent years, at least at this early stage. A terrific and buoyant Vouvray that any Chenin lover should try—or, better yet, cellar! 13% alcohol. 80,000 bottles made. Tasted in July 2020.
Rating: 93 –93
The 2021 Vouvray Le Haut-Lieu Sec offers a clear and intense bouquet of ripe and concentrated fruits, with chalky and sur lie aromas. Pure, linear and fresh on the palate, this is a lean yet tensioned and thrilling, enormously saline Vouvray Sec that is as pure and fresh as rarely before. Almost ascetic but full of thrills and tension, the 2021 shows all the features of a classic, cool vintage and indicates excellent aging capacity. The tannins are chalky and interwoven with the saline and crystalline acidity. There's not much texture here at this early stage, but this will develop with bottle age. 13% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in March 2023.
Rating: 91 –91
The straw-yellow colored 2013 Vouvray Le Haut-Lieu Sec shows a deep and quite intense and concentrated bouquet of roasted apples, ripe pears and peaches along with initially slightly yeasty, then chalky and lemon-fresh flavors. Medium-bodied but concentrated and full-flavored on the palate, with an intense and slightly sweet fruit counterpointed by the pronounced, not yet fully integrated 2013-acidity cutting through the chalky texture, this is an impressively good representative from a difficult vintage. Very compact and aromatic in the still slightly austere finish, this wine is still on its long way and should be stored for another 6-7 years, but can go for about 25+ years. In its steely and concentrated character, Le Haut-Lieu reminds me a little bit of first class Chablis.
Rating: 92 –92
A brilliant straw-yellow, almost golden color dresses the precisely clear, deep and elegantly aromatic 2012 Vouvray Le Haut-Lieu Sec, which indicates a perfect ripeness and finesse of fruit along with some oriental spice aromas. Intense and very mineral on the palate, this highly elegant, finesse-full, dense, tightly woven and clearly chalky Chenin reveals a concentrated, powerful and thrilling finish with a long and complex, very stimulating salinity. This is a great Haut-Lieu for the next ten, maybe 50 years.
Rating: 93 –93
The citrus-colored 2015 Vouvray Le Haut-Lieu Sec is pure, fresh and chalky on the nose where ripe and concentrated fruit aromas along with some subtle herbal aromas are displayed. Full-bodied, very mineral, salty and ripe, this is a concentrated, powerful, densely woven yet finesse-full and elegant Chenin with a very long and grippy, tension-filled finish. Great aging potential.
Rating: 90 –90
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.
Rating: 93 –93
From limestone-clay soils, the golden-yellow colored 2017 Vouvray Le Haut-Lieu Sec displays a deep and refined nose with fine chalky notes intermixed with juicy and well-concentrated lemon aromas. The attack on the palate is smooth, ripe and elegant. In fact, this is a very juicy, round, refined and persistently structured Vouvray with intensity, power and concentration but also fine acidity. It displays a long, vital, beautifully tensioned finish with grip and candied lemon, grapefruit and orange zest flavors. With dine yet tight tannins, this is an excellent, very elegant and textured Haut-Lieu that already drinks very well but will improve over time. Tasted in March 2019.
Rating: 90 –90
The Huet 2009 Vouvray Sec Le Haut-Lieu – harvested at the beginning of October – manages to remain dry tasting despite harboring ten grams of residual sugar, which represented the only means of keeping alcohol at bay. (The trio of 2009 sec bottlings doesn’t exceed 13.5%, which Pinguet says he considers the maximum acceptable for their genre.) Fresh lime, chalk dust, and salt spray in the nose promise a prominence of citrus and mineral elements uncommon for the vintage, a promise largely fulfilled on the palate and in a prolonged finish, albeit accompanied by a considerable sense of citrus pip and rind bitterness. The clay-rich, more water-retentive soil of this site (vis-a-vis Huet’s others) does not seem to have conduced to noticeably better acid retention – if anything to the contrary – despite the prominence of flavors associated with citrus. But there is a lovely sense of levity here that is very welcome for its vintage. This may well gain further complexity with 2-3 years in bottle, though I don’t perceive it as well-suited for extended cellaring. Noel Pinguet professes great confidence in his 2009s and pleasure in one of those rare vintages where it was possible to bottle everything from sec through Cuvee Constance. That said, he admitted that achieving a balanced dry wine was challenging, and total production of sec was down from the estate norm; that of demi-sec, surprisingly, even more so (represented by a single bottling); virtually half of the vintage production being moelleux. While acknowledging similarities to 1996, Pinguet finds 2008 most closely resembles 1988. His is one of the few 2008 collections from Vouvray or Montlouis that is clearly less consistent than the corresponding 2009s, which he also finds more interesting. Importer: The Rare Wine Co., Sonoma, CA; tel. (800) 999-4342
Rating: 89 –89
The 2005 Vouvray Sec Le Haut Lieu smells positively mineral and carnal in its meld of ocean breeze, chicken stock, and snuffed candle wick, but neither does it stint on floral dimensions. With brothy richness, ample quince fruit, and pistachio nuttiness on the palate, the wine also displays positively gripping brightness of ripe acidity and tactile apple skin, grapefruit zest, and chalk dust, leading to a long, subtly nipping, tingling finish. It will probably be more satisfying in a year or two and be worth following for a decade. Importer: Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 757-8185. Also, a Christopher Cannan Europvin Selection (various importers), Bordeaux; fax 001-33-5 57-87-43-22
Rating: 91 –91
Nectar of lemongrass, limestone, fresh almonds, and honeysuckle blossoms can be found in both the aromatics and flavors of the 2002 Vouvray Le Haut Lieu Sec. Medium to full-bodied, satin-textured, and focused, this outstanding wine has admirable depth, purity, as well as superb elegance. Wonderfully combining power and grace, this first-rate dry Vouvray also possesses an extremely long, fruit-packed finish. Drink it over the next 5 years. Importer: Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 757-8185
Rating: 89 –89
The vibrant scents of the 1997 Vouvray Sec Le Haut Lieu reveal white flower and loads of perfume. This is a medium-bodied, well-focused, and opulent wine crammed with layers of almonds, chalk, and candied minerals. Gorgeously pure and silky-textured, it is accessible now and will easily hold for 6-7 years. Importer: Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York, NY; tel (212) 757-8185.
Rating: 93 –93
A wealth of sliced-pear, white-peach and citrus-zest aromas with a hint of honeycomb makes this dry Vouvray very appealing. Abundant succulence in spite of the rather sleek palate. Long, very silky finish with impeccable balance. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold.
Rating: 94 –94
This stunning dry Vouvray has such an exciting energy on the simultaneously focused and creamy medium-bodied palate. I love the juicy core, then the way the wet stone character builds to an impressive intensity in the long, precise finish. Still really youthful and with great aging potential. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold.