A wonderful evening of Chenin.

An invitation for a day of fishing in the Long Island Sound from Chris Kravitz's brother, Matt, turned into a superb day of fishing and a wonderful Chenin themed dinner. It also allowed me to reconnect with Marco DeFreitas, who I hadn't seen in about fifteen years. Many thanks to Matt for enabling the reunion and for organizing a terrific evening!

• 1993 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Mont

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  It started off with a bit of an oxidized character, but with air it quickly blew off to reveal a complex and vibrant wine. It’s a bit waxy with lingering citrus notes, great minerality and nice acidic snap. The wine filled in with time in the glass and took on a delightful honeyed character with the citrus becoming more orange in character. A lovely surprise. Low A-.

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• 2002 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Mont Flawed

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  Shows the premox, but it’s not completely overwhelming and this bottle still offers some pleasure. Still, what this wine was and what it's become over the past five years when the premox reared its ugly head, is one of the saddest things I've experienced in wine.

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• 2005 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Clos du Bourg Flawed

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  Corked. A bottle I had a couple of months ago showed beautifully, though expressed the vintage's ripeness with slightly elevated alcohol and softer than usual acidity.

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• 1995 Papin-Chevalier Savennières Doux La Pierre de Coulaine

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Savennières

  I was thrilled to see this when Marco pulled it out of his bag. I’ve always loved this wine, but I, along with others in my local Chenin group, panicked in the early to mid-aughts when this, the ’97 and the Bise wines, also made by Papin, started to darken in color very quickly. We were concerned that they were aging rapidly. We would later learn that it was just the botrytis making the wine darken and that the wines, were in fact, in fine form. This bottle bore that out. It’s an incredibly sweet wine, extremely honeyed with an intense apricot preserves character that gives the impression of being a bit cloying at first, but previous experience with it has told me to just give it some air as there’s plenty of acidic backbone and, indeed, it did reveal itself with extended airing. Shows some nice mineral notes as well as some earl grey tea. Held it’s own against the ’89 Huet Cuvée Constance and ’89 Foreau Reserve 1ere Trie. Miles to go with this one and I’m kicking myself for not holding on to my stash longer. A.

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• 2008 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Haut-Lieu

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  Another gorgeous showing and it still hasn’t shut down much. It’s pure quince, golden apple and mineral with medium sweetness and vivacious acidity. So alive and just a thrilling wine. Worked wonderfully with the black sea bass en papillote. A.

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• 2010 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Clos du Bourg

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  I was pretty surprised by this showing as it’s grown a lot since I tried it on release. Less sweet and a leaner profile than the ’08 LHL Demi tried next to it, but it shows a keen chalky mineral character to go with quince, green almonds and yellow citrus. Focused with wonderful purity to it. Another winner with the sea bass. A-.

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• 1989 Domaine Huet Vouvray Cuvée Constance

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  Yes, a bit of a baby killer, but it was good to check in on it and I’m glad Marco brought it so I could let mine sleep longer. It was decanted about four or five hours prior to our having it. There was more brightness and youthfulness to this bottle than my past few samples. Still quite primary with an intense apricot character, a hit of marmalade, pineapple and quince that’s moving into the darker quince paste realm. Of course there’s a strong mineral streak with just a bit of marzipan. There’s a lot of residual sugar here, but the magic of this wine has always been the balance the acidity gives it. Just perfectly balanced. Really, it’s a benchmark wine for describing balance. A youthful, immortal wine. A+.

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• 1989 Foreau Domaine du Clos Naudin Vouvray Moelleux Réserve 1ère Trie

  France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray

  It was fun to try this side by side with the Cuvée Constance. It’s of a completely different character. It’s much darker in color and is a denser, weightier, sweeter and more botrytis dominated wine that comes across more as an essencia. Intensely sweet with apricot preserves, orange marmalade, earl grey tea, quince paste and mineral flavors and aromas. There’s plenty of acidity here, but this wine just isn’t as nimble as the Constance. Still, it’s a monumental wine, one your grandkids will be able to enjoy. A+/A.

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Some pics of the stars of the evening, the wine and the sea bass.

The lineup.


Prepped black sea bass.


Cooked sea bass. A perfect foil for the '08 and '10 Huet demi-secs.