2005 Vouvray Moelleux Le Haut-Lieu

Founded almost a century ago, Domaine Huet is arguably Vouvray's most famous name. An early adopter of biodynamics, Huet was certified in 1993 when even organic producers were considered hippies. Production of wine styles (from dry to sweet) varies depending on the seasons, which are becoming more erratic every year. For example, in 2018, around 85% of production was sweet, making the rare sweet cuvée Constance possible. The original vineyard, Le Haut Lieu, is a clay-based site first purchased in 1928 by founder Gaston Huet. It now covers 15 hectares and remains the most fruit-forward of the estate’s sites. The addition of Clos du Bourg came in 1953. It’s a real clos, surrounded by walls and is a little warmer than the other sites, making it the first of the Huet vineyards to be picked. Conversely, the Le Mont vineyard, which was acquired in 1957, has a greenish-yellow clay soil with flint scattered throughout, making it a cooler site. It is picked the latest and takes time to come around in the bottle.

In 2023, sorting was key to the success of the wines. Every bunch was examined multiple times due to the arrival of the Suzukii fruit fly, which affected many parcels in Vouvray, turning juice into vinegar. At least 25% of the crop was rejected, and this rigorous approach seems to have paid off. Tasting the wines just weeks after they were bottled, I was very encouraged. However, there are just seven cuvées from Huet in 2023 with no demi-sec, moelleux or fully sweet wine from the Haut-Lieu vineyard.

Under Noel Pinguet, who retired in 2012, this was considered, along with its neighbor Foreau, one of the two iconic estates in Vouvray. Pinguet was the last in the extended family of Gaston Huet, who founded the estate in 1928. I had the honor to experience part of that legacy in the new tasting room at the winery with the daughter, Sarah, of the current owner, Anthony Hwang, and their winemaker, Jean-Bernard Berthomé. Sarah, like her father, is an American of Chinese descent. While there has understandably been a great deal of speculation about what will happen to such a unique property under foreign ownership, I see little cause for concern. Quite the contrary. Sarah’s father bought into the estate over ten years ago following Gaston Huet’s death in 2002 at the age of 92, and has nursed it gently from strength to strength via investments. No one here has better vineyards. Of their current 35 hectares, 6 are in the Clos du Bourg, the oldest and shallowest site—20 centimeters of soil on a bed of limestone—in Vouvray, dating back to the 8th century. It is also there where they have their oldest vines. Le Mont, 7 hectares on the rim of the cliff, has soils that are only a tad deeper, but the clay is interspresed with silex. Le Haut Lieu, 12 hectares even higher on the plateau, has much deeper soils, but never acheives the same levels of ripeness as the other two blocks. All have been biodynamic since 1993. Interestingly, it was only in 1995 that the estate began doing selective late-harvest wines. Before that, the blocks were crushed as lots, which is why there were no moelleux produced between 1976 and 1985. That the current owners are dedicated to this style of wine becomes abundantly clear when one learns that they have also invested in Tokaji (Hwang purchased Királyudvar in the late 1990s), where they have another 65 hectares of vineyards that have been certified as biodynamic since 2011.