Wines: Pétillant & Sec
As with many of Vouvray’s domaines there is a large range of styles produced here, sparkling and still, dry and sweet. It is worth considering some of the finer points of these wines in a little more detail.
Although when we focus on Vouvray it is often on the beautiful sweet wines of the appellation, 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 the wines of Domaine Huet of course, which are based on fruit of high quality rather than the under-ripe grapes which are often channelled into sparkling wines by the region’s less devoted producers. Here at Domaine Huet perhaps half of a typical harvest will be channelled into sparkling wines, although of course it depends on the nature of the vintage and the quality of the fruit.
In recent years Domaine Huet has offered two styles of sparkling wine, the first being a mousseux cuvée made using the méthode traditionnelle, the Champagne method, a blended vin clair being bottled with yeast and sugar for the second fermentation. The production of such a wine in the Vouvray appellation dates back to the time of Charles Vavasseur, who was the first to begin producing sparkling wines here. According to Auguste Chauvigné, writing in Monographie de la Commune de Vouvray et de son Vignoble (Péricat, Tours, 1908), Charles Vavasseur was having difficulty selling his wines, especially dry wines and those from lesser sites, and the production of sparkling wine was his solution.
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