Domaine Huet - Vouvray Sec Le Mont 2021 (750ml)

~~Price: $55.00~~

Sale Price: $41.25

Producer	Domaine Huet
Country	France
Region	Loire
Varietal	Chenin Blanc
Vintage	2021
Sku	1470583
Size	750ml

Vinous: 96 Points

This 2021 Le Mont Sec fills the mouth with pear pineapple nectarine and violet flavors. There's a sense of seduction and succulence through the middle of this wine. The flint and the coolness of the site seem to bring a sense of tension and purpose through this wine which seduces you then spits you out. Delightful fragrance and a mouthwatering racy finish. - By Rebecca Gibb MW on June 2022 Domaine Huet perhaps Vouvray's most famous name was founded almost a century ago. An early adopter of biodynamics it was certified in 1993 when even organic producers were considered to be hippies. Today Domaine Huet is run by Sarah Hwang whose family bought the estate in 2003. Production of wine styles (from dry to sweet) varies depending on the season and the seasons are becoming more erratic every year. In 2018 around 85% of production was sweet and they were able to make the rare sweet cuvée Constance. The original vineyard Le Haut Lieu is a clay-based vineyard which was 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 express itself fully in the glass. No matter the site or the sweetness level there is an ethereal and elegant quality to these wines that defies scientific analysis.

Wine Advocate: 95 Points

The 2021 Vouvray Le Mont Sec opens with the classical flinty fruit aromas on the still discreet but again elegant and fascinating unique nose that is crystal clear precise fresh intense and aromatic with concentrated quince and lemon aromas intermingled with chalky and even more saline notes. Crystalline refined and elegant on the palate this is a full-bodied tight and complex Vouvray from green marls and silex soils. The wine is still tight and very tensioned which is great to taste but challenging to drink at this early stage. The finish is pure citrusy and very mineral most of all salty and lemon fresh with fine tannins and a firm sustainable structure. 13% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in March 2023. Only three wines have been produced from the 2021 vintage at Domaine Huet all dry. The trio is accompanied by the 2017 Pétillant Brut (which I didn't taste though) and the noble sweet 2018 Cuvée Constance about which I will report next week in context with other vintages (2016 2015 and 2009). Huet has also re-released the 2008 Le Mont Demi-Sec. From the German importer Vinatural I also received older vintages of diverse categories so all of the following notes were written in the last week of March this year. 2021 wasn't easy and in the end Allan made dry Vouvrays only. Severe frosts in the first week of April set a first warning after a very early spring that had already started in January. However the vines were able to resist and preserve some of their future bunches. April May and June brought rainy episodes and the vines that had suffered from frost were particularly receptive to attacks by mildew according to the vintage report. In June the vines "grew at a frenetic pace. Under an ever-intense pressure of mildew attention and responsiveness were of utmost importance." The sun alternated with the rain throughout July and at the beginning of August temperatures cooled below seasonal norms slowing down the maturity of the future harvest. Under these conditions the acidity was preserved and the sugar levels rose slowly shaping the contours of a quintessential dry vintage.

Wine Spectator: 94 Points

A concentrated multilayered wine that is richly styled yet bristling with racy energy featuring juicy apple and creamed pear flavors marked by ginger cinnamon and allspice accents with a firming core of salty mineral. Delicious now this will only improve with time in bottle. Best from 2024 through 2030. ?A.N.