2008 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Haut-Lieu

Community Tasting Notes (66) Avg Score: 91.8 points

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  4/14/2024 - Vas19 wrote: 92 Points

  In a nice spot right now. Rich fruit, a hint of sweetness but well balanced, showing a little bit of secondary complexity.

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  7/27/2023 - rwpalmer wrote: 92 Points

  Remains impressive if unusual as described in my 2021 note. Concentration is remarkable. No signs of over-maturity but I think this will increasingly divide palates as it ages.

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  4/1/2023 - kuumies wrote:

  A wonderfully complex, open and developed nose with ripe apricot-driven fruit, breakfast cereal, some iodine and plenty of wet wool. At amazing phase with very expressive fruit yet not really primary anymore. On the palate luscious and mouth-coating with richness that masks the acidity that is not at all lacking a bit. Ripe and vibrant with abundant fruit, the sweetness has toned down a lot but is not gone by any means. A hedonistic wine, flamboyant even, that drinks amazingly well right now. The sweetness will deteriorate even more but will it get better from here? Not for my palate I think. A great balance between concentration and crispness right now.

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  3/31/2023 - forceberry wrote: 93 Points

  A semi-dry wine from the original Le Haut-Lieu vineyard of Domaine Huet. Fermented spontaneously in old oak barrels and stainless steel. The fermentation is halted before the wine reaches dryness with racking and application of SO2. The MLF is blocked. 13,5% alcohol, 29,8 g/l residual sugar.
  
  Deep, luminous and moderately evolved burnished golden color. The nose feels big, complex and quite seductive with rich aromas of acacia honey and quince jam, some pineapple tones, a little bit of apricot, light evolved notes of bruised apples, a nutty hint of almonds and a developed touch of Chenin waxiness. The wine is firm, somewhat evolved and pretty crisp on the palate with a medium body and focused flavors of ripe red apple and quince jam, some stony mineral tones, a little bit of honeyed richness, light evolved nuances of waxiness and woolly lanolin, a hint of sweet tangerine and a touch of chalky bitterness. The wine is wonderfully structured and refreshing with its bright, high acidity, but the residual sugar serves as a wonderful foil to the acidity, masking its most incisive edge and lending some viscosity to the otherwise quite airy and relatively weightless overall feel. The finish is crisp, lively and palate-cleansing with a lengthy off-dry aftertaste of ripe lemony citrus fruits and incisive steely minerality, some bittersweet notes of quince jam and fresh orange, light honeyed tones, a little bit of waxy richness, a hint of ripe red apple and a touch of stony minerality.
  
  A fantastic, beautifully mature off-dry Vouvray that is in a magnificent spot right now, combining its refreshing acidity and almost angular mineral nuances with balanced richness from the residual sugar that never feels too sweet or overwhelming anything, only accentuating the ripe fruity flavors. Unlike some younger Huet Chenins, which can be wonderfully brisk and mineral but also rather linear and too straightforward in nature, this has picked up some wonderful developed complexity without losing its youthful vibrancy or turning too aged or tertiary in overall character. I'd say there is still quite a bit of room for further evolution, but the wine really doesn't call for any additional aging and even if the wine is going to be drinking beautifully for years more, I'm not sure whether the wine is going to actually improve from here or if any further evolution is going to be just lateral development. Whatever the case, the wine can be drunk now or kept for a good number of years more. A classy classic that is impossible not to love.

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  12/16/2022 - indiscriminate palate wrote: 91 Points

  So good! This has lost its youthful verve and has become a more mature, interesting wine. Orchard fruit on the nose with loads of savory and grassy notes. Waxy, viscous palate of ripe baked apple, orange, and some of the savory notes from the nose. Sweetness is there but so well balanced by the loads of acidity. Long finish.

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