Brilliant! – 2010 Le Mont Sec, Vouvray, Domaine Huet

2010 Le Mont Sec, Vouvray, Domaine Huet

The 2010 vintage in the Loire is looking increasingly good and, unusually, is showing well across the region's wide diversity of styles. There are some lovely reds almost as rich and weighty as 2009 but better balanced. The dry whites are very good: again a lovely balance of fruit and acidity. Then the sweet wines, especially from Anjou, are spectacularly good. Like the 2002 vintage balance is the keyword here.

This 2010 Le Mont Sec is a brilliant example of how good a dry white or really, in this instance, a slightly off-dry white from this vintage can be. The touch of sweetness is wonderfully off-set by a backbone of ripe but austere acidity. I have no doubt that this will last 30 years and more but it is delicious to drink now. 

2010 turned out to be Noël Pinguet's penultimate vintage and this is part of a wonderful legacy. 

 Noël Pinguet and Anthony Hwang during 

the 2010 vintage@Domaine Huet

   

No fakes – another advantage of Loire wines

 1919 Le Mont Moelleux, Domaine Huet 

April 2009: the 1919 – burnished gold but still vibrant and youthful

The on-going Rudy Kurniawan trial for counterfeiting and fraud has been fascinating to follow. As someone who enjoys a glass or so of Loire wine from time to time, it has also been reassuring as well as highlighting another advantage of Loire wines: there are few if any fake old Loires! In contrast Laurent Ponsot (Domaine Ponsot) has suggested that 80% of old Burgundy are fakes. Doubtless in Bordeaux there are a significant proportion of counterfeit bottles of top old Bordeaux.

Although some producers may not always follow AC rules, I would be very surprised if there were many (any?) fake old bottles from fabled Loire vintages. No fakes to date because it hasn't been financially worthwhile and there isn't the same market in trophy wines as there is in Bordeaux and Burgundy. To date the only Loire domaine to my knowledge to have headlined an auction held by a major house is Domaine Huet in a sale organised by Christie's in 2004.   

Following the success of that sale prices of old Huet wines rose considerably and they may be one of the very few Loire estates that might be attractive to counterfeiters. 

Brief reflections on Rudy Kurniawan is my post on Les 5 du Vin this week.       

June 2012: Line up in the cellars of Lamé Delisle Boucard: 1947 to 1893
No sign of Rudy here!

2012 Loire Vintage: prospects at Domaine Huet?

View from the vineyards of Le Mont towards Tours, with the spires of its cathedral visible

A bunch in Le Mont

 

On Saturday, while having a general run through some of the the Vouvray vineyards, we also looked at two of the three Huet vineyards – Le Mont and Le Clos du Bourg – as well as dropping into the domaine for a brief chat with Hugo* Hwang (directeur général) and Susan Hwang (présidente directrice générale), the son and daughter of Anthony Hwang, who bought the estate in 2003.

Hugo and Susan were keen to stress that the new regime is determined to continue the long standing philosphy and tradition of the domaine by making whatever style the weather of the year permits. Although unsurprisingly they have ruled out the possibiliy of making a Cuvée Constance this year, they say they are still open to the possibility of making anything from Pétilliant through to Premier Tri this year. 

They also stressed the long experience of Jean-Bernard Berthomé, the chef de culture at Domaine Huet, as well as Benjamin Joliveau who was being trained up to take over from Noël Pinguet in 2015 when Noël will be 70. They see no reason why standards should slip. Certainly I hope they don't but given the sudden departure of of Noël Pinguet, a towering presence at the domaine and in Vouvray, for over 30 years, it is inevitable that they will be somewhat under the microscope. Although to be fair when Noël started working with Gaston Huet, his father-in-law, in 1971 he had no previous winemaking experience.    

 Grapes in the Clos du Bourg (above and below)

   One of the very few sizeable bunches 

Picking will start here on Tuesday. It will be unfair to judge the new regime on what they make in 2012 given that it has been such a difficult year. It will unquestionably be a small vintage. The Clos de Bourg appears to have a very small crop, with perhaps a little more in Le Mont but not by very much.  

The quality is still in question; the weather forecast over the next week isn't very favourable with some rain announced for most days. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be particularly wet. Of course this can change but there is a small amount of rot around and the weather will determine which way it goes: noble or grey. Given that the grape skins are pretty tough this year, the Chenin may resist quite well. Fingers crossed!   

* NB Hugo's second name is Stefan, so the Stefan mentioned in earlier posts is Hugo and not someone else. 

Some wines from Monday night

2009 Les Chailloux, Pouilly-Fumé, Jean-Claude Chatelain

Monday night, being our first night back in Touraine, was an opportunity to consider a few bottles – naturally in a strong spirit of modération. We started with some of jacky Blot's Triple Zéro Rosé. Then with a first course of Quiche Lorraine bought from the excellent Charcuterie Cruchet (28 Rue Nationale, Montrichard) there was the quite opulent 2009 Les Chailloux, Pouily-Fumé from Jean-Claude Chatelain. The Chatelain Pouilly-Fumé had the typical richness of the 2009 vintage  but with enough freshness in the finish to give balance and avoid heaviness. Worked well with the quiche.      

2006 Cuvée Côt, AC Touraine, Clos Roche Blanche 

For the main course – pot roasted pork with garlic – we broached a magnum of the 2006 Côt from the Clos Roche Blanche. The 2006s have been rather forgotten – overshadowed by 2005, 2009 and 2010. There are some very attractive, charming 2006 reds that are drinking very well now and this Côt was delightful with plenty of rich black fruits and very soft tannins.  

2003 Le Mont, Première Trie, Moelleux, Vouvray, Domaine Huet

We finished with a lovely bottle of the 2003 Premère Trie from Domaine Huet. Beautifully balanced with rich (but not super rich), complex honeyed fruit with some barley sugar notes with sufficient acidity to balance the rich fruit. Certainly a wine from a hot year but perfectly in balance and one to sip slowly to enjoy its complexity. Served with a couple of Serge Granger's very fine fruit tarts. Granger is at 50 Rue Nationale Montrichard and is one of the treasures of the town.    

Le Mont, Domaine Huet: 19th September 2011

 The view from Le Mont looking south east – the viaduct carrying the TGV line over the River Cher can be seen in the distance 

 The view from Le Mont looking south west and towards Tours

Le Mont is one of the three vineyards that make up the 35 hectare estate – Le Clos du Bourg and Le Haut-Lieu are the other two. The first two photos show that Le Mont is right on the edge of the Première Côte with the ground falling very sharply away to the town of Vouvray below.The part shown in the second photo is above the Huet cellars, while the first has the viaduct that carries the TGV line over the River Cher. Gaston Huet, Noël's father-in-law and Mayor of Vouvray, successfully fought to have the line moved to the east and to pass through a tunnel rather than use a cutting as was originally envisaged.    

Le Clos du Bourg is also right on the Première Côte but a little to the west of Le Mont – beyond the Rue de la Croix Buisée where the Huet and Foreau cellars are located. Le Haut-Lieu, although also on the Première Côte is more on the plateau, has a higher proportion of clay and is close to the top of la Croix Buisée near the junction with the Rue Charles Bordes.  

Photos taken in the vineyard on 19th September 2011 during the vintage: 

   

A small bunch that includes a couple of ladybirds

A loge de vigne

28.2.12: Following Luc Charlier's comments I've added a couple of photos of the Le Clos du Bourg showing that the vineyard slope is fairly gentle. 

Clos du Bourg: January 2009  

June 2009

Two bankers@the RSJ Restaurant Friday 19th November 2010

2002 Le Mont demi-sec, Vouvray, Huet

Dinner for four at the RSJ on Friday night. I suppose you could accuse me of playing safe with my wine choices that night – tant pis!

For our apero and the first course (my potted shrimps were excellent) we had the 2002 Le Mont demi-sec from Domaine Huet. Once again it confirmed what a lovely vintage 2002 is, especially for the whites. Curiously on first taste this Le Mont seemed to lack acidity but that was only very briefly a concern as the wine opened up in glass and showed all the balance associated with 2002. Sweetness, fruit and acidity are all here in seamless balance.

On the red side there were several possibilities that attracted me but we opted for Yannick's 2006 La Petite Cave and its lovely soft, opulence. Probably not such a long keeper as the 2005s but with its concentrated soft fruit a real pleaser at the moment – ideal with my roast guinea fowl.

2006 La Petite Cave, Bourgueil, Yannick Amirault