1995 Domaine Huet, Vouvray “Cuvee Constance” Sweet Loire Valley White, France.
The Cuvee Constance is a monument to great Chenin Blanc, and this amazing sweet nectar is as good as anything from Sauternes, Tokaji or TBA’s from Germany or Austria, it is without question a masterpiece with waves of pleasure, delicacy and grace. It was a fantastic treat to have a small collector pull this price from his cellar and share, and for which I’m truly grateful, it showed remarkable poise, character and depth, and it was even more special as it was a magnum and shared with a tight group of colleagues, it light up the table in a golden glow that’s for sure! This bottle, while stored well, did show a few signs of leakage and had a very wet and decaying cork, it was really perfect timing with this one, as it was reaching a now or disappointment zone, but thankfully all was good and it blew everyone away. The 1995 Cuvee Constance by Huet, as poured greedily into rather big Riedels, woke in the glass with a deep amber color with golden edges and a honeyed scent lifted up along with orange marmalade, lemon curd and peach as wells a muted floral note and earthy tone before the first sip. The mouth feel is rich and lush, but with still a lot of vibrancy and the palate is detailed and focused with apple tart, yellow peach, tangerine, candied citrus rind, baked pear and dried honeycomb as well as pineapple, truffle, wet stones, caramel custard, vanilla and decaying rose petals. There is a maturity and an autumn twilight sense about this vintage, but I can see it aging another 10 years easy, but it is really at a good point now, never easy to find, this glorious Chenin should be on any wine lovers bucket list.
($N/A 1.5L Magnum) 95 Points, grapelive
