Planted on deep brown clay over limestone, the 2023 Sec from Huet’s original vineyard, Le Haut-Lieu, is as vivacious and pure as when I tasted it with their team last year in Vouvray. Quince and pear abound, with some spice and earth and a brilliant undercurrent of acidity. The driven, chalky finish shows dill and mint with a citrus spritz
Clos du Bourg is one of the oldest vineyards in Vouvray. Warmer than the other two sites, the soil here is rocky and shallow, with the brown clay giving way to a bedrock of limestone. The 2023 Clos du Bourg Sec is deep, aromatic and focused with a salty density. ‘The concentration, and the classic amplitude and curves are there with a super line and frame,’ says Vinous.
Le Mont is the coolest and stoniest of their vineyards, and the clay is of a green hue with lots of silex (flinty stones). The 2023 Le Mont Sec is tightly coiled at the moment. It’s ‘precise, upright and flinty’ (Wine Spectator) with apple blossom, lush white peach and nectarines, and ‘has the potential to charm but does so without showing off’. The more you swirl and taste it, the more the wine opens up and the layers upon layers of fruit, florals, stone and chalk become apparent.
Founded almost a century ago and farmed biodynamically, Huet’s vineyards lie on Vouvray’s Première Côte (first slope). Only seven styles could be made this vintage, namely Sec from all three sites, as well as both Demi-Sec and Moelleux from Clos du Bourg and Le Mont. View their full selection here.
