2020s from Domaine Huet, a Great Vintage for Moelleux!
Although we have not been to France to taste the 2020 vintage Vouvrays from Huet, reports in the various wine media have been very enthusiastic. The climate was of course, unusual, with a warm wet winter leading to early bud break and the threat of frost. Happily, unlike the disasters in France last month, frost damage in 2020 was minimal, but dry, hot conditions led to low yields in most of Touraine. Harvest was perhaps the earliest on record, with exceptional ripeness permitting the production of beautiful Demi-Sec and Moelleux wines. After a string of somewhat difficult vintages from 2012 to 2014, recent vintages have seen great triumphs at Huet, promoting increased demand, which in turn leads to smaller allocations, especially in this excellent vintage with lower than normal yields. We're happy to offer what is available to us from the first shipment arriving in early June, we certainly hope that more wine will become available. Given the small quantities we are offering a 10% discount on any 6 btls from this email.
The estate produced only one dry wine in this vintage, the 2020 Le Mont Sec - we hope to receive additional wine in the near future. We have only 24 btls of Le Haut-Lieu Demi-Sec, but happily we can offer 36 btls of the Le Bourg Demi-Sec - from Gaston Huet's favorite parcel! The Demi-Sec bottlings have been sensational in the last few years, particularly from Le Mont and Clos du Bourg, offering beautiful aromatics, gorgeous fruit, great minerality and the ability to age indefinitely as well.
Although consumptiion of Moelleux Chenin Blanc has fallen dramatically, especially in Anjou, Domaine Huet has remained committed to producing these extraordinary wines. "Moelleux wines have always had a special place at the estate since its inception; symbols of long aging, those of today will make the great tastings of tomorrow. Producing a Moelleux confers great pride, the feeling of adding a stone to the edifice, the lasting imprint of a generation. Rich and elegant, these wines can be enjoyed and shared today or kept for the next generation..."* Tasting a mature Moelleux from Huet is one of the real pleasures of wine, and I would certainly include an Huet 1921, and an Haut-Lieu 1947 as among my very greatest thrills (along with a 1921 Clos Rougeard Coteaux Saumur - good luck finding that one!). So buy a few to enjoy now in their magnificent youth and get a few more to put away for 20, 30, 40 years or as a gift to someone for the future...
( *Adapted from the Huet website.)
-David Lillie
