There's no talking about the Loire's Vouvray without talking about Domaine Huet, whose sweet wines literally stand the test of time - with vintages still strong going all the way back to the 1940's. These wines, termed Moelleux (for Sweet), are renowned for ageing incredibly and still holding their freshness and elegance, and at the same time serves as a reflection of the estate's winemaking expertise - savoir faire as they call it - and a snapshot in time captured in a bottle. Domaine Huet, having been established in 1928 is far from being the oldest in the ancient Loire, and yet is today one of the region's key faces.

The Le Haut Lieu vineyard.

Located in Vouvray of the central Loire, the longest river of France along which over 7,000 winemakers produce a wide variety of styles (some even dating back to the 14th Century), Domaine Huet was established by one Victor Huet, a once Parisian bistro owner who had decided to retire to the countryside of Vouvray in search for a more peaceful life after his experiences in WWI. He would purchase his first vineyard, the 5-hectare Le Haut-Lieu, in 1928, which kicked off what would become Domaine Huet. As per Vouvray specialty, the estate would focus entirely on the Chenin Blanc grape (which really is the only variety allowed in Vouvray), where it would produce a wide range of styles from sparkling to dry (Sec), semi-dry (Demi-Sec) and sweet (Moelleux).

Victor, together with his son, Gaston, would plough away at the site, located in Vouvray's Premiere Cote ("first slope"), the home to the appellation's grand cru vineyards, with Gaston eventually taking over in 1937. It was thus under Gaston that the Domaine came to become highly regarded - and impressively, this was even as he had spent half a decade as a prison of war during WWII. This would be achieved through the acquisition of two other prime vineyards in the Premiere Cote - the Le Mont (1957) and Clos du Bourg (1963). With these three key vineyards, Domaine Huet would become the poster child for Vouvray wines.

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Gaston Huet.

By 1971, Gaston would be joined by his son-in-law Noël Pinguet, and in 1978, his vineyard manager Jean-Bernard Berthomé. A prescient move on the part of Gaston was to hold back a not insignificant stock of older vintages, which has allowed the estate to regularly showcase the spectacular ageing potential of its wines. Yet what really made Domaine Huet the star that it became was Gaston's strong conviction in cultivating the vines in the most natural and sustainable manner, as well as a great intuitive understanding of the terroirs of the three vineyards.

Gaston was early in understanding the need for sustainable farming practices. From the moment the Le Mont and Clos du Bourg vineyards were purchased, Gaston has never applied any chemical product on them. He's also made sure to avoid mechanical harvesting, preferring to carry out the laborious work by hand instead. Each season, he allows the roots of the vines to dig as far down as possible by ceasing all tilling, only laying down organic compose to aid in fertilisation.

"Our philosophy is founded on the principle that once the grapes are pressed, man does not intervene with the juice. This is why the grapes are picked and sorted in the vineyard and then for a final time at a sorting table. We also check the quality of the grapes before pressing them, leaving the other grapes on the vine."

In the cellars, which is completely natural and dug out of the rocks by Gaston, he focuses on minimal intervention. He vinifies each parcel separately, with pressing done with a pneumatic vertical press outside the cellars, allowing for gentle extraction. The juices are then left in vats under carbonic gas to limit oxidation, whilst the wine settles under low temperature. Fermentation is spontaneous with wild yeasts present in 3-4 decades old demi-muids that hold the juices. Meanwhile malolactic fermentation is avoided so as to preserve the natural freshness and acidity present in the Chenin Blanc, which supports long and elegant ageing. The wines are then racked, and after which are once again left in a vat at low temperature inhibiting yeast activity, before eventually transferring them once again to demi-muids. After 4-6 weeks, the wines are then filtered under natural gas and then bottled.

In 1990, Gaston would formally pursue biodynamic farming, finally receiving the certification in 1993.

Nevertheless by 2002, Gaston would pass on, and the estate would require a new owner (in order to help pay off the inheritance tax), which would come in the form of the Hwang family, led by New York businessman and sweet wine lover Anthony Hwang (also going by Tony Hwang). Since then the estate has made several changes, with Pinguet having initially taken on the winemaking duties, to eventually passing it on to Berthomé, and now has been taken on by Benjamin Joliveau, with the estate managed by Hwang's children, siblings Sarah and Hugo Hwang.

Getting into the vineyards, Domaine Huet owns three key vineyards, with a total of 35 hectares of vines. The vineyards are:

• Le Haut-Lieu, 15 hectares (expanded from the original 9 hectares), characterised by the richest soils of the three vineyards, with deep limestone and clay, producing generous, fuller bodied wines that are highly approachable.
• Le Mont, 9 hectares, characterised as stony and famed for its intensely mineral character. Deemed as one of Vouvray's greatest vineyards, it produces wines with great ageing potential that showcases length and finesse.
• Le Clos du Bourg, 6 hectares, thin, stony soils in the walled vineyard, known for producing powerful and elegant wines. This was Gaston Huet's favourite vineyard.

Whilst all three vineyards feature their own attributes, and are each used in the production of single-vineyard Sec, Demi-Sec and Moelleux styled wines, since 1989, Domaine Huet has also produced Cuvee Constance (named after Gaston's mother), a botrytised dessert wine that is made from a blend of one, two, or all three vineyards. This expression is only produced in select years.

And thus we have an estate that holds great esteem, and has proved itself to be the leading name in Vouvray and the greater Loire, a region whilst known for its diversity and artisanship, is not typically seen as producing wines of cult commercial status. In its close to one century of existence, Domaine Huet has held numerous rarefied accolades, having been named Decanter's 100 Greatest Wines Ever Made, ranked just below the famed Sauterne of Chateau d'Yquem, as well as being the only wine producer of the Loire Valley to headline a major auction (Christie's).

Today, we'll be trying Domaine Huet's Moelleux from the Le Mont vineyard, of the 2018 vintage.

Let's go!

Wine Review: Domaine Huet Vouvray Le Mont Moelleux

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Gold

Aroma: It opens with overripe golden apples and apple kombucha, with a sort of doughy yeastiness, as well as a touch of rancio in the form of brie soft cheeses and dried apricots. It's incredibly rich, almost syrupy, with a deep candied umaminess of aged Sake. It's also rather waxy with a chewiness of beeswax. That resinous, fermented quality, backed by the richness of all those fruit preserves and honey strikes a complete bouquet, with vivid yet fresh aromatic intensity.

Taste: Medium-plus bodied here, gliding right across with a body of golden syrup, honey, maltose candy, coaxed in with overripe golden apples. It's rich and rounded, supple, yet neither cloying nor heavy. It keeps that malic quality of savoury apple cores, still with that doughiness. It continues to given deep and rich notes of apple and pear compote, with a texture of either syrup or cordial. The acidity is present yet broad, well-integrated and rounded out, even though it remains firm and bold.

Finish: It's rich into the finish, here with some black pepper warmth. It persists with maltose candy, apple compote, apple sauce, and more overripe apples, now with some spiced cardamom honey. It's clean and precise on the finish, with a lifted freshness.

My Thoughts

A really enjoyable sweet wine that showcases good balance and restraint, whilst allowing all its elegance and finesse to come through unbridled. It's not nearly as sweet as you might think, and certainly neither heavy nor cloying, with what felt more like a candied body. Yet embodied in all that richness, the acidity still comes through balanced and well-integrated, not sharp yet firm. It's like apple sauce or apple compote meets golden syrup, with a side of apple core savouriness. It's fresh and aromatic, almost chewy at times, in terms of aroma, and also rich, yet clean and precise on the finish, with this lovely bit of cardamom spiced honey that shows itself. Whilst this remains a young vintage, I'm certainly curious what it would be with several decades of ageing in.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot