2019 Domaine Huët "Le Haut-Lieu" Vouvray Sec
95JG
95RP
93CK
93WS
92DC
92VN
$34.99
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95
John Gilman
Reviewed May 2020Domaine Huët has only produced four cuvées in 2019, as the vintage has produced such perfect raw materials for making Sec that Cellar Master Jean-Bernard Bartholomé decided to focus almost exclusively on this level, with only a little bit of Demi-Sec produced out of the Le Mont vineyard. This is also the final vintage at the domaine for Monsieur Bartholomé, as he is retiring. The 2019 Le Haut Lieu Sec comes in at an even thirteen percent octane, which coupled to excellent acidity, is likely to make this wine last a hundred years. The beautiful pure and concentrated nose offers up scents of lemon, quince, a hint of pear, complex, chalky soil tones, lanolin and white lilies. On the palate the wine is deep, pure and very precise, with a full-bodied format, a rock solid core, bracing acids and stunning length and grip on the complex and electric finish. I have to imagine that this will drink well for a few years and then close down with a vengeance for a decade or so, after which it will drink for the next eight or nine decades!
Professional Reviews
95
Wine Advocate
The deep brown clay soils of the Haut-Lieu plateau provide the typical fruitiness and freshness wonderfully in Huet's 2019 Vouvray Le Haut-Lieu Sec. Ripe pear, tangerine and orange fruits with notes of lemon grass and green pimientos intertwined with very fine chalky and later tobacco notes give a remarkably fine, elegant and harmonious, subtly complex and simply gorgeous bouquet with floral (lime blossom!) and yeasty aromas that are immediately attractive. Delicate and linear on the palate, this is a pure, fresh, bone-dry, lean and textured, highly refined and perfectly interwoven Chenin with persistent purity, finesse, salty-mineral tension and very fine tannins. Highly finessed and so pure and vivacious! This is a chalky picture-book Haut-Lieu that can age for many years, even though it is already dangerously seductive! There was no dry Le Haut-Lieu produced in 2018, but the 2019 is possibly the finest, most delicate and elegant I've had in recent years, at least at this early stage. A terrific and buoyant Vouvray that any Chenin lover should try—or, better yet, cellar! (SR)
93
Chris Kissack
From the ‘original’ Huet vineyard, a little higher up than Le Mont and the Clos du Bourg, this sec cuvée has just 3.5 g/l in this vintage. It opens with an array of floral and perfumed citrus fruits, rather restrained, with a subtle hint of bitterness. The palate presents a quite reserved style, starting off with a dry and tense character, with plenty of tangy floral notes, as well as a little thread of vanillin lactone which will surely fade with time. It has a lovely grain to it, and a firm backbone. A very fine result, polished, impressive, and a touch bitter in the finish. For what is arguably the domaine’s ‘third’ vineyard this is a high-class result.
93
Wine Spectator
A subtle, dry version, with an undertow of sea salt beneath the ginger, honeycomb, cardamom, green fig and quince notes. A nice crunch adds to the crystalline structure, creating a firm backbone. Tempting now, but cellar this for several years. (AZ)
Notes
Acquired by the Huët family in 1928, Le Haut-Lieu is the estate’s original vineyard, with deep clay soils over Vouvray’s limestone bedrock. Farmed biodynamically, it produces Chenin Blanc in several sweetness levels; this Sec bottling is the dry expression.
Details
| Type | White Wine |
|---|---|
| Varietal | Chenin Blanc |
| Origin | Loire, France |
| Bottle Size | 750 mL |
| SKU | 1494230 |