Home > Vintages and Regions > Loire > Loire Update: Domaine Huet Sparklers
Huet Sparklers, February 2010
Domaine Huet
This update relates to wines tasted in January
and February 2010.
For more on this estate, including all my relevant tasting notes, see my Domaine Huet profile.
The highlight of the Loire tasting calendar - putting visits to domaines and vineyards aside for one moment - has to be the annual Salon des Vins de Loire, held in the first week of February each year.
This year, as a little warm-up to the event for which I travelled down to Angers, and in particular anticipation of the release of the Huet's 2005 pétillant cuvée, I decided to pull some recent vintages of Huet sparklers from the cellar. None - save for the 2005 of course, which I tasted at the Salon and which I include in my tasting notes below, are new to these pages; this was simply a good moment to revisit these wines and see how they are progressing.
Although
when we focus on Vouvray it is often on the beautiful sweet wines of the region,
or perhaps the vibrant sec or under-rated and often over-looked
demi-sec cuvées, the truth is the vast majority of the appellation is
dedicated to sparkling wine, much of it rather lacklustre. This is not true of
Huet's efforts of course, which are based on high-quality fruit rather than the
under-ripe grapes which are often channelled into sparkling wines by the region's less
devoted producers.
In recent years Huet has offered two styles of sparkling wine, the first being a mousseux made in the méthode traditionelle, that is a bottling made à la Champagne, a vin clair bottled with yeast and sugar for the second fermentation. More recently (although on reflection it is actually many years ago now) Noël Pinguet began to experiment with a méthode ancestrale, an increasingly popular practice if the number of examples I encountered from Vouvray producers at the Salon are anything to judge by. In this case the wine is bottled before the primary fermentation is finished, the result being a lower pressure sparkling wine - the pétillant style - because only a portion of the fermentation occurs within the bottle. Although it is not strictly necessary to add anything when bottling, Pinguet favours the addition of yeast to ensure the fermentation progresses smoothly. Once finished the wine is disgorged and then topped up with an aliquot of a sympathetic cuvée, in the case of the 2005 Pétillant tasted below the 2002 Le Mont Première Trie was used.
So what of the 2005, the wine I have been so looking forward to tasting? I am happy to report that this wine is no disappointment; in fact it is delicious. I think it is probably superior to the 2000 and 2001 cuvées, both tasted here, and very close in quality - perhaps just very slightly behind - the 2002. This is certainly one I will be adding to the cellar, as soon as possible. (10/2/10)
Domaine Huet Sparklers, February 2010 - Tasting Notes
The wines below were tasted in January and February 2010. All my notes on the wines of Domaine Huet, including those below, are collated under my
Domaine Huet profile.
Click
to locate stockists.
Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant 2005: A ripe and very evocative,
typical nose here, minerally, with a hint of volcanic character. This certainly
holds promise! On the palate it starts off with a floral style, fairly light and
elegant, although with a lovely chalky-volcanic minerality reflecting that found
on the nose. A fine broad style though, fresh, with notably fresh acidity and
good finesse. A very promising first taste of the latest release of this
vintage. 17.5-18+/20
Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant 2002: This is surprisingly rich and golden; I've seen some opinions of this wine
suggesting it was for the long haul and nothing else, but the colour doesn't
suggest that, and neither does the nose. Although I am sure that this wine will go
for years, it has some delightfully accessible aromas now, especially minerals and honey, liquid rock,
herbal tea, smoke and more; it speaks much more of Chenin than of bubbles. The
palate is just as impressive as the nose, with great precision and acidity framing
smoky fruit with plenty of liquid mineral to match the aromas. Yes it is very
firm, acidic, and it will certainly do well in the cellar for years if not
decades, but it is still lovely now, taut and firm, yet also giving, and very
long too. Excellent wine with brilliant future potential. 18+/20
Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant 2001: A rich golden hue here, and a good bead
to, extraordinarily fine though, in keeping with its pétillant nature.
The nose has plenty of golden minerals, and golden, slightly autumnal fruits. The
palate is lively, fresh and vivacious, full of forceful acidity, evolving
honey-tinged minerals, and a creamy pétillance. There is good weight on the palate, broad
and full-flavoured, bright and firm, with plenty of acidity and grip showing in
the finish. This is lovely for drinking now, but it is still very youthful, and
it will actively repay
cellaring yet. 17.5+/20
Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant 2000: It is a couple of years since I
last opened one of these, so it is good to see how it is getting on. A really
luscious golden hue in the glass, quite a remarkable sight in fact, with sparse
and moderate bubbles. Sure-fire minerality on the nose, with plenty of exuberant
character, golden honeyed fruits, with fresh lemon and dill providing a good
contrast to the more evolved aromas of oat and biscuit. The palate has a very
gentle entry, soft and creamy, a texture which persists through the palate even
though it is backed up by plenty of bright, stony, incisive acidity. Good crisp
mousse. Lovely Chenin style here, chalky-volcanic and woolly notes, all in a
very harmonious but also lively composition. Fresh but approachable, as it turns
out this is coming along very nicely. 17.5/20
Domaine Huet Vouvray Brut 1987: This wine has a rich and golden hue in the
glass, and a fine bead of sparse but very small bubbles. Charismatically Vouvray on the nose,
with aromas of dried honey,
minerals, straw and heady, golden autumnal apples, all very true to the appellation.
What is more it is both evocative
and clean, with no hint of oxidation. Full and rich in character on the palate,
smoky, full of dried fruits cut through with a firm, powerful acidity. This is a
charismatic, very forthright and domineering style, which is unmistakably mature dry Vouvray....just with
bubbles. Great wine. 17.5/20
