Domaine Huet: Profile and tasting report on latest releases

An exclusive report on Domaine Huet's latest releases, plus tasting notes on several older vintages from this legendary Vouvray estate...

Founded in the Loire village of Vouvray in 1928, Domaine Huet is revered for its ageworthy Chenin Blancs.

Gaston Huet, son of the founders, was mayor of Vouvray from when the AC was granted in 1947 to 1989, and supervised more than 60 vintages until his death in 2002.

Scroll down to see tasting notes tasting notes and scores for new release wines and older vintages

The domaine then passed to his son-in-law Noël Pinguet, who had been working with Huet since 1976 and was instrumental in converting the 35ha domaine to biodynamic practices in 1990.Chinese-American businessman Anthony Hwang bought the estate in 2003, though the Huet family retains control of the stock of older vintages going back to 1921.

Pinguet resigned suddenly in 2012, reportedly due to disagreements with the Hwang family over wine styles. Beginning with the 2020 vintage, Benjamin Joliveau took over the helm for wine production at Domaine Huet from Jean-Bernard Berthomé, formerly Noël Pinguet’s right-hand man, who decided to retire after more than thirty years of loyal service to the estate.

Huet is famed for its three vineyards:

• Le Haut-Lieu (9ha)
• Le Mont (8ha)
• Clos du Bourg (6ha)

Le Haut-Lieu is the original estate vineyard, whose rich limestone-clay soils give wines that are the most approachable in youth.

Gaston Huet bought Le Mont in 1957, and the stony, south-facing vineyard yields wines of great minerality and tension.

Clos du Bourg, purchased in 1953, dates to the 8th century and its 6ha of vines are surrounded by an ancient stone wall. Gaston Huet believed this to be Vouvray’s greatest vineyard, and its wines are certainly the most powerful and vibrant.

Each vineyard expresses unique characters, and the wines can be made in four styles, subject to vintage conditions:

• Sec (less than 5g/l of residual sugar)
• Demi-sec Off-dry, typically 15-25g/l)
• Moëlleux Meaning ‘mellow’, this is a medium-sweet style at 45-55g/l)
• Moëlleux Première Trie The ‘first picking’ of botrytised berries produces a wine with residual sugar of more than 60g/l

All styles are balanced by very high total acidities of between 4-6g/l TA

Introduction and profile by Tina Gellie

Yohan Castaing tastes the latest releases: 2019 and 2020

2019 is without question a very fine vintage for Vouvray wines, and yet the winemakers had to face challenging climatic episodes that included frost, excessive heat and especially significant drought conditions.

More than ever, the quality of vineyard work proved to be an asset, especially to maintain soil health by improving its intake of available oxygen. However, not many sweet wines were produced in 2019 because of the high levels of rainfall from the beginning of October, with nearly 113.2mm falling in Angers compared to an average of 71.8mm.

The 2020 vintage is another quality vintage in the Loire, even more so than 2019, as the production of superlative sweet wines was possible. From the beginning of the growth cycle, vines were on track almost two weeks ahead of the usual calendar dates. Thereafter, the weather was challenging at times but without dramatically affecting the yield.

The harvest took place in perfect conditions, which allowed each producer to fix what he or she considered to be optimal harvest dates. In fact, this latitude in choosing picking times had an impact on the chosen styles of the wines, which at their best are closely identified by their respective terroirs of the Loire region.

As for Domaine Huet, without a doubt, biodynamic viticulture enabled this estate to harvest exceptional grapes and make equally exceptional wines.

See tasting notes and scores for latests releases and older vintages:

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