2019 Domaine Huet, Vouvray Pétillant Brut, Dry Loire Valley Sparkling Wine, France.
The latest disgorgement release from Huet is a delicate moussed dry Pét-Nat sparkler with the domaine’s personality showing in the glass with pure Chenin peachy, honey and chalky notes shining in the glass with just the right amount of leesy brioche, luxuriousness and nuttiness. This golden hued bubbly is finely balanced and one of the most stylish in the Pétillant category of sparkling wines with the Huet version finished with Champagne cork and cage, rather than the pop top and it was refined with its disgorgement so the wine is not foamy, but has good beading of the mousse. The Huet Pétillant, as the winery notes, was bottled before primary fermentation is finished, resulting in a lower pressure sparkling wine, or pétillant, because only a portion of the fermentation occurs inside the bottle. Then yeast was added to ensure the fermentation progressed smoothly. Once finished and dry, the wine is disgorged. This process saw a moderate Dosage, which was made up of pure cane sugar and slightly sweet or sweeter demi-sec or moelleux wines from a previous vintage, but resulted in a Brut, making it perfectly dry and elegant, as this latest release shows. While not cheap for a Pét-Nat, Huet’s example is delicious and goes nicely with food, especially poultry, white fish and soft farm cheese and I recommend maybe not instead of Champagne, but for its Chenin soulfulness.
One of the Loire Valley’s top estates and biodynamic pioneers, the Domaine Huet does some of the best Chenin Blanc wines on earth with lush richness, mineral tones and stony character from their elite Cru estate vineyards on Vouvray’s classic clay-limestone hillsides. The legendary Huet winemaker Noel Pinguet was one of the first French vignerons to adopt biodynamic viticulture and credited the biodynamic practices with enhancing the personalities of each of Huet’s individual terroir driven lieu-dit sites, which are some of the most sought after wines in the world. The Pétillant Brut is a fun addition to Huet’s very serious, but expressive lineup, which includes a range of Vouvray wines from crisply dry, off-dry and lush sweeter styles, including Huet’s fabled Cuvée Constance, which rivals the best from Sauternes and Tokay. Founded in 1928 by Victor Huet, Vouvray’s Domaine Huet quickly became the place for great, age-worthy Chenin Blanc, but it was under Victor’s son Gaston who led the estate to the very top of the wine world over his 55 years in charge here. Huet’s success came from Gaston’s understanding clearly that quality must come first and because he invested in top vine sites within Vouvray, which include Le Haut-Lieu, Le Mont and Clos du Bourg, these are considered Grand Cru quality vineyards in this part of the Loire. If you want to truly understand Chenin, you’ll want to explore these Huet wines. I’ve been lucky enough to have tried everything in the Domaine Huet collection over the years and some that were well aged, these are incredible offerings.
($38 Est.) 90 Points, grapelive