Domaine Huet (Vouvray)

Noël Pinguet in the cellar The Domaine Huet-L'Echansonne is located 11 rue de la Croix Buisée 37210 in Vouvray (ph: 0033 (0)2 47 52 78 87) . Created in 1928 , it regroups 4 vineyards (35 hectares alltogether):
Le Haut Lieu
Le Mont
Le Clos du Bourg
Le Vodanis
Vouvray is a region with 2000 hectares along the Loire , only with chenin blang grape variety and 200 wine producers on it . Clay-silica soil , sometimes just clay . The Domaine Huet is managed by Noël Pinguet . Organic viticulture . Biodynamic management (Demeter certified). Harvest is done through successive selections. Several types of wines are produced depending of the year and the vineyard location . Sec (dry) , demi-sec , moelleux .The stairs to the cellar Yields are about 35 hectoliters/hectare . Production is about 120/150 000 bottles a year . 20/25% in sparkling wine here . The region on the whole makes 70% of sparkling wines . The vines are tied up here . The cellars are dug in Tuffeau (chalk) cellars where the average temperature stays at 12° C . Thermoregulated vats. In the galleries where the bottles are stocked , many different vintages . Oldest are from 1919 . The 1930's are well represented too.
The production goes to wine stores , restaurants , private customers , and for export . The cask cellarCasks come from Radoux , Maitre Tonnellier .One new cask with "Haut Lieu" dry is mixed with 10 old ones wich tones down the wood in the wine . Cellars are very impressive , with passageways , galleries on several layers . Visiting them in the dim light is something . Some bottles are so old they are covered with thick dust . Feels like you walk under a middle ages castle ...

Sparkling in the makingThe Tasting takes place in an adjacent building .Here is what we tasted.
__1__ Vouvray Domaine Huet Petillant (sparkling) Brut 1999 .Less bubbles than in Traditional method . 8,9 Euro . 1,5 bar pressure (3 bar in traditional method) .
__2__ Vouvray Domaine Huet "Le Mont" 2001 . Sec (Dry) .Begins to be ready for drinking.(2 years) . 12,5 ° . Light . Still a good acidity . 10,7 Euro.
__3__ Vouvray Domaine Huet . sec . Le Vodanis 2003 . Dry . More aromatic . Clay-Silica , but not on the rock . Many micro climates and conditions in Vouvray . Minerality . Dense . 10,7 Euro.
__4__ Vouvray Domaine Huet "Le Mont" 2001 . Demi Sec . 12,5° . 14,7 Euro . Le mont is a 9 hectares lot with differences in it . 22g residual sugar and 6,89g/L total acidity . Very pleasant at aperitif.
__5__ Vouvray Domaine Huet "Le Haut Lieu" 2003 . 13° . 13,7 Euro . 29,4g residual sugar . Total acidity 4 g/L. Already very elegant . Opened.
As we speak , Benjamin Joliveau shows us a vine tulip pictured in the Domaine Huet nineyard . This doesnt happen on most vineyards and proves organic viticulture dies change things.
__6__ Vouvray Domaine Huet "Haut Lieu" 2003 . Moelleux . 13° . 18,7 Euro . 63,8 g residual sugar and 3,8 total acidity . Best moelleux wine years are : 1989,1990,1997,2003.
__7__ Vouvray Domaine Huet "Clos du Bourg" Moelleux 2003 .66 g residual sugar ,3,8 total acidity . . 13,3° . 20,7 Euro.
__8__ Vouvray Domaine Huet "Le Haut Lieu" 2003 Moelleux "1re Trie" (first selection grapes). In the liquoreux category . 12,5° .29,7 Euro . 86,5 g residual sugar. Total acidity 3,9 g/L.
__9__Vouvray Domaine Huet "Le Mont" 2003 . Moelleux ."1re Trie" . 12,5 ° . 30,7 Euro . 89g/L residual sugar . 3,85 g/L total acidity . Very nice tasting experience . The Domaine has each year a "portes ouvertes" (open doors) event around may 8th , when the new wine comes out .Very old presses built in cavities in the cellars...These bottles are from 1949...Passage from a cellar to another

Comments

[ken ross]

one of the truly original wine web sites. I love it!

ken ross

[kurt krause]

Wonderful pictures of Dom.Huet, having just tasted a 1989 Vouvray "Constance" last night. Does anyone know anything about this wine?

[Alvin Hurt]

Dear Sir,
Can you tell me where I may purchase a vouvray of chateau noizay?

[JimKay]

Wonderful pictures that capture the cellars. A couple of additional notes: We were told the Domaine has a kilometer of caves dug into the hills, also, one man does the riddling - turning the bottles, for all sparkling wine in Vouvray. Finally, that black stuff on the bottles isn't dust, it's mold. The cellars are cold and also quite humid. We brought home a couple of bottles of the 1985 Le Mont. The bottles were mostly cleaned before label are applied, but a blackened cork end and a stray stripe of black mold on the bottle reminded us of the wonderful cellar conditions under which the wines are stored.

[Pamela Arenson]

Can you tell me if you need a reservation to visit this Winery and how to do it from the US?
Thank You, Pam Arenson