Champagne it is not, but it definitely is made very well, with a bead that wouldn't be out of place there. A slight bitterness with maybe even a moderate wooliness gives away the different nature of this wine. Electric, bright, and zippy, but some sharp angles on the finish detract from the overall cohesion of this. For the money, quite a nice value.
Like the 2019 -- why don't I buy more of this more often? It's such a value and the quality you get is so high. Yes, it's not Berthomé anymore (whose last vintage was indeed the 2019) but this feels like it's cut from the same cloth. Intense pear notes, but razor-sharp acidity and almost a saline tinge as well. A very complex and complete wine, especially for the price. Will these age into the same wines as the 1938 and 1969 we had tonight though? I'm not sure. The style is very different; this is leaner and more taut, the older editions almost showing some botrytis and stone fruit and much more broadness on the palate.
Very different from the straight 2021 sec alongside -- this was very much closer to the 2007. Very peachy, with a distinct honeyed/floral tone. I can't help but think that this had to have been picked a little later than the secs of 2019 and 2021. I get a little bit of botrytis here (or at least I think I do). For my palate, I preferred this to the 2007, owing to the relative freshness of this younger wine.
Shows slightly more oxidative than the 2014, though they are without a doubt wines cut from the same cloth. Stylistically, this seems to be a sec that pushes the ripeness boundary a lot, showing lots of roundness from the fruit. For my palate, and perhaps after younger wines, this felt a little long in the tooth, even if I did quite still like the concentration and complexity here. Fairly waxy in disposition.
Cursive label. A crazy, insane study in botrytis. Honey, marmalade, and apricot in a surprisingly dry package (despite its moelleux designation). Bright and sharp acidity helps counter the roundness, this is undoubtedly a legend in the making. Truly impressive stuff that I think has a lot of upside potential with further aging. Hard to believe that this is over 50 years old -- I've had plenty of younger wines taste far worse.
Cursive label. This was a much more subtle and quiet wine next to the exuberant 1971 Le Mont Moelleux. It definitely feels far drier, and there's almost a mild smoky component to it. The modest sweetness seems to have faded away (the difference with the sec is pretty stark) into more of a textural component than outright sweetness. This feels very balanced and drinks like a large-scaled dry wine than a wine with any residual sugar at all. Incredibly fresh, but I do wish that this had a little more fruit (especially knowing how so many of these old wines had held up so well).
Picture label. An absolutely outstanding wine that was eclipsed by the otherworldly 1949 in the same flight. A modest nose of smoke, with just a slight wooliness as well. Quite sweet for its age, this wine's acidity isn't as prominent as most. It feels a little sedate at first, but there's a quiet intensity to the palate here that I really like. A little less fruit and complexity overall than the best bottles tonight, but without a doubt a very, very exciting bottle of chenin. The sweetness would probably put it at a modern demi-sec level at this point.
Picture label. One of the best bottles of old white wine I've ever had. This bottle is simply perfect. The cork fell straight into the bottle when I touched it, but fortunately there was probably enough mold growing on the top of the bottle that it formed a seal to protect the wine from oxidation. And this wine drinks like it was put in a time machine. Blind, I think 1990s would have been a reasonable guess. Inordinately complex, with a light-on-its-feet concentration that only the best aged sweet wines can develop. There's but a modest bit of sweetness here, but the only partially dried yellow and white orchard fruits and acidity that feels nascently secondary at most give this wine a vivacity that belies its age. But despite that, this has all the requisite complexity of a wine of its age. Truly incredible.
Cursive label. Truth be told, not that different from the 1938 of the same wine; it just feels a little more taut and younger. Going back to these old secs from a bunch of wines with some residual sugar was a bit of a paradigm shift. This was lean and bone dry, and it feels like the aging was done more just by sheer force of acid than anything. It certainly has some aged characteristics, but this lacks the plush roundness that the old moelleux and demi-sec wines have. In contrast to the 1938, this feels a little more sharp and angular, with a modest amount of fruit. There's a bit of malic acidity, and the wooliness is much more apparent in these fully dry editions than any with residual sugar.
Cursive label. Drinks like straight-up old wine, but like the 1969, this is a wine that has aged through the sheer force of its acid. In that sense maybe the 2021 (or 2019) will be able to age like this a bit. But this has a stone-fruit based roundness despite all that acidity that I don't think the most modern incarnations have. Or maybe that doesn't show up for 70-80 years. Who knows? Actuarially speaking, I won't ever find out. Anyway, this has a waxy, lanolin-like quality to it, despite the extremely heightened acidity. I wish this had a little more complexity overall, especially for a wine of this age, and seeing what the 1949 could do...
Cursive label. This wine may be responsible for one of the best pairings I've ever had. A braised and then grilled piece of coppa was served alongside this, and the balance between the pork fat and the sweetness and acidity in this wine was perfect. Intense botrytis notes, but the age mellows it out a lot. There's more peach than marmalade, but still some intense spice notes that really speak to the botrytis. Still some sweetness, but obviously nowhere as intense as the myriad 1989 1ère tries we had tonight. With air, more of the classic wooly chenin notes start to emerge. This would be a wine more drinkable by the glass than the 1989s, where a little just goes so far.
Brown label. In my mind, this bottle may well top the 1989 Constance. This is another in a long string of phenomenal dessert wines made by the estate in 1989, but this rarity really takes the cake because of the way it balances the intensity with lift and lightness. Most of the other 1989 wines impress you by overwhelming you (think Rothko Room at the Tate Modern), but this wine somehow manages to do that, and still stay light on its feet. All the expected botrytis notes are there -- apricot, marmalade, brown spice, etc. That's not the interesting part of this wine. Where this shines is that slight volatility that lifts this over so many other wines of similar intensity and concentration, and while this is definitely very, very sweet, this has a lightness in texture as well. The insane amount of acidity here has to have helped. Without a doubt one of the most successful experimental wines ever made.
Brown label. This would have been an impressive wine already but it certainly paled in comparison to the mind-bending Essai. It's pretty clear the difference -- where as the Essai was lifted and light, this is structurally far more compact and squat. Everything is about the weight and concentration here. A huge, massively scaled wine with insane amounts of extract, this is a sweet wine that feels almost chewy. You get some phenolics here as well that I think are pretty interesting, especially since I've never found a particularly phenolic note in wines with this sort of weight before. In isolation, this would have been a very impressive wine to taste, but tonight, it didn't fare anywhere as well as its cousin from Le Clos de Bourg.
Coat of arms label. Corked. Which was not easy to detect because of how much else was going on with this wine. The stripped palate made this a pretty obvious TCA call.
Coat of arms label. I didn't find this anywhere as convincing as the 1989 1ère tries. The nose here is definitely very wooly, and it's really the first wine where that furry, animal quality in chenin really sticks out, out of the entire lineup. The palate is certainly concentrated and sweet, but the fruit feels a little muddied and the botrytis nowhere as clean as it ought to be. Still, there's plenty of apricot and other dried fruits here, it's just that there's just not that extra level.
2017 Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant Brut 88 Points
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray Pétillant
Champagne it is not, but it definitely is made very well, with a bead that wouldn't be out of place there. A slight bitterness with maybe even a moderate wooliness gives away the different nature of this wine. Electric, bright, and zippy, but some sharp angles on the finish detract from the overall cohesion of this. For the money, quite a nice value.
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2021 Domaine Huet Vouvray Sec Le Haut-Lieu 93 Points
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Like the 2019 -- why don't I buy more of this more often? It's such a value and the quality you get is so high. Yes, it's not Berthomé anymore (whose last vintage was indeed the 2019) but this feels like it's cut from the same cloth. Intense pear notes, but razor-sharp acidity and almost a saline tinge as well. A very complex and complete wine, especially for the price. Will these age into the same wines as the 1938 and 1969 we had tonight though? I'm not sure. The style is very different; this is leaner and more taut, the older editions almost showing some botrytis and stone fruit and much more broadness on the palate.
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2014 Domaine Huet Vouvray Franc de Pied Le Haut-Lieu 93 Points
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Very different from the straight 2021 sec alongside -- this was very much closer to the 2007. Very peachy, with a distinct honeyed/floral tone. I can't help but think that this had to have been picked a little later than the secs of 2019 and 2021. I get a little bit of botrytis here (or at least I think I do). For my palate, I preferred this to the 2007, owing to the relative freshness of this younger wine.
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2007 Domaine Huet Vouvray Franc de Pied Le Haut-Lieu 93 Points
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Shows slightly more oxidative than the 2014, though they are without a doubt wines cut from the same cloth. Stylistically, this seems to be a sec that pushes the ripeness boundary a lot, showing lots of roundness from the fruit. For my palate, and perhaps after younger wines, this felt a little long in the tooth, even if I did quite still like the concentration and complexity here. Fairly waxy in disposition.
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1971 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux Le Mont 95 Points
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Cursive label. A crazy, insane study in botrytis. Honey, marmalade, and apricot in a surprisingly dry package (despite its moelleux designation). Bright and sharp acidity helps counter the roundness, this is undoubtedly a legend in the making. Truly impressive stuff that I think has a lot of upside potential with further aging. Hard to believe that this is over 50 years old -- I've had plenty of younger wines taste far worse.
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1969 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Mont 93 Points
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Cursive label. This was a much more subtle and quiet wine next to the exuberant 1971 Le Mont Moelleux. It definitely feels far drier, and there's almost a mild smoky component to it. The modest sweetness seems to have faded away (the difference with the sec is pretty stark) into more of a textural component than outright sweetness. This feels very balanced and drinks like a large-scaled dry wine than a wine with any residual sugar at all. Incredibly fresh, but I do wish that this had a little more fruit (especially knowing how so many of these old wines had held up so well).
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1957 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux Le Mont Flawed
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Cursive label. Corked.
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1957 Domaine Huet Vouvray Demi-Sec Clos du Bourg Flawed
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Cursive label. Corked.
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1953 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux 1ère Trie Le Mont 95 Points
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Picture label. An absolutely outstanding wine that was eclipsed by the otherworldly 1949 in the same flight. A modest nose of smoke, with just a slight wooliness as well. Quite sweet for its age, this wine's acidity isn't as prominent as most. It feels a little sedate at first, but there's a quiet intensity to the palate here that I really like. A little less fruit and complexity overall than the best bottles tonight, but without a doubt a very, very exciting bottle of chenin. The sweetness would probably put it at a modern demi-sec level at this point.
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1949 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux Le Haut-Lieu 100 Points
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Picture label. One of the best bottles of old white wine I've ever had. This bottle is simply perfect. The cork fell straight into the bottle when I touched it, but fortunately there was probably enough mold growing on the top of the bottle that it formed a seal to protect the wine from oxidation. And this wine drinks like it was put in a time machine. Blind, I think 1990s would have been a reasonable guess. Inordinately complex, with a light-on-its-feet concentration that only the best aged sweet wines can develop. There's but a modest bit of sweetness here, but the only partially dried yellow and white orchard fruits and acidity that feels nascently secondary at most give this wine a vivacity that belies its age. But despite that, this has all the requisite complexity of a wine of its age. Truly incredible.
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1969 Domaine Huet Vouvray Sec Le Haut-Lieu 93 Points
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Cursive label. Truth be told, not that different from the 1938 of the same wine; it just feels a little more taut and younger. Going back to these old secs from a bunch of wines with some residual sugar was a bit of a paradigm shift. This was lean and bone dry, and it feels like the aging was done more just by sheer force of acid than anything. It certainly has some aged characteristics, but this lacks the plush roundness that the old moelleux and demi-sec wines have. In contrast to the 1938, this feels a little more sharp and angular, with a modest amount of fruit. There's a bit of malic acidity, and the wooliness is much more apparent in these fully dry editions than any with residual sugar.
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1938 Domaine Huet Vouvray Sec Le Haut-Lieu 93 Points
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Cursive label. Drinks like straight-up old wine, but like the 1969, this is a wine that has aged through the sheer force of its acid. In that sense maybe the 2021 (or 2019) will be able to age like this a bit. But this has a stone-fruit based roundness despite all that acidity that I don't think the most modern incarnations have. Or maybe that doesn't show up for 70-80 years. Who knows? Actuarially speaking, I won't ever find out. Anyway, this has a waxy, lanolin-like quality to it, despite the extremely heightened acidity. I wish this had a little more complexity overall, especially for a wine of this age, and seeing what the 1949 could do...
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1969 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux 1ère Trie Clos du Bourg 95 Points
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Cursive label. This wine may be responsible for one of the best pairings I've ever had. A braised and then grilled piece of coppa was served alongside this, and the balance between the pork fat and the sweetness and acidity in this wine was perfect. Intense botrytis notes, but the age mellows it out a lot. There's more peach than marmalade, but still some intense spice notes that really speak to the botrytis. Still some sweetness, but obviously nowhere as intense as the myriad 1989 1ère tries we had tonight. With air, more of the classic wooly chenin notes start to emerge. This would be a wine more drinkable by the glass than the 1989s, where a little just goes so far.
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1989 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux 1ère Trie Clos du Bourg Flawed
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Original release with the cursive vintage tag. Corked.
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1989 Domaine Huet Vouvray Essai Bio Moelleux Clos du Bourg 100 Points
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Brown label. In my mind, this bottle may well top the 1989 Constance. This is another in a long string of phenomenal dessert wines made by the estate in 1989, but this rarity really takes the cake because of the way it balances the intensity with lift and lightness. Most of the other 1989 wines impress you by overwhelming you (think Rothko Room at the Tate Modern), but this wine somehow manages to do that, and still stay light on its feet. All the expected botrytis notes are there -- apricot, marmalade, brown spice, etc. That's not the interesting part of this wine. Where this shines is that slight volatility that lifts this over so many other wines of similar intensity and concentration, and while this is definitely very, very sweet, this has a lightness in texture as well. The insane amount of acidity here has to have helped. Without a doubt one of the most successful experimental wines ever made.
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1989 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux Fin De Pressée Le Mont 95 Points
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Brown label. This would have been an impressive wine already but it certainly paled in comparison to the mind-bending Essai. It's pretty clear the difference -- where as the Essai was lifted and light, this is structurally far more compact and squat. Everything is about the weight and concentration here. A huge, massively scaled wine with insane amounts of extract, this is a sweet wine that feels almost chewy. You get some phenolics here as well that I think are pretty interesting, especially since I've never found a particularly phenolic note in wines with this sort of weight before. In isolation, this would have been a very impressive wine to taste, but tonight, it didn't fare anywhere as well as its cousin from Le Clos de Bourg.
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1989 Domaine Huet Vouvray Cuvée Constance Flawed
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Coat of arms label. Corked. Which was not easy to detect because of how much else was going on with this wine. The stripped palate made this a pretty obvious TCA call.
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1995 Domaine Huet Vouvray Cuvée Constance 93 Points
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Coat of arms label. I didn't find this anywhere as convincing as the 1989 1ère tries. The nose here is definitely very wooly, and it's really the first wine where that furry, animal quality in chenin really sticks out, out of the entire lineup. The palate is certainly concentrated and sweet, but the fruit feels a little muddied and the botrytis nowhere as clean as it ought to be. Still, there's plenty of apricot and other dried fruits here, it's just that there's just not that extra level.
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