Winemaker Notes
Purchased in 1957, Le Mont lies on the esteemed Premiere Côte. With less clay and more stone than Le Haut-Lieu, Le Mont yields young wines of intense minerality. The wines are the estate's most reticent, but develop the strongest perfume with age.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Vouvray Le Mont Moelleux reflects the vintage’s warm conditions with a ripe, complex bouquet of pear, white peach, exotic fruits, kumquat and floral notes. Medium- to full-bodied, it is concentrated and structured yet retains a sense of poise and lift. A delicately fleshy core of fruit is framed by bright acidity, leading to a long, ethereal finish. This is an exquisite and precise wine, particularly impressive given the solar nature of the vintage.
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Vinous
The 2022 Le Mont Moelleux is a medium-sweet, tender style that is just so welcoming and appealing. It is the quiet type that doesn't show off. It offers breadth without weight, which I always like about the Huet wines - they're like clouds of Chenin floating over your palate. A fine floral and fruity fragrance reminiscent of lilac, pear and pineapple lingers off the tranquil finish. While the acidity in 2022 is a little gentle, it still has enough tension to sweep up the wine and hold it all together. A little more length and line would elevate it further. (51g/L RS, in case you're interested).
Unquestionably one of the most diverse grape varieties, Chenin Blanc can do it all. It shines in every style from bone dry to unctuously sweet, oaked or unoaked, still or sparkling and even as the base for fortified wines and spirits. Perhaps Chenin Blanc’s greatest asset is its ever-present acidity, maintained even under warm growing conditions. Somm Secret—Landing in South Africa in the mid 1800s, today the country has double the acreage of Chenin Blanc planted compared to France. There is also a new wave of dedicated producers committed to restoring old Chenin vines.
An important white wine appellation in the Touraine and one of the top in all of the Loire, Vouvray uniquely specializes in a wide range of styles from dry to sweet, and still to sparkling, each with its own definitive character. Vouvray is almost always 100% Chenin blanc (however up to 5% Menu Pineau is theoretically allowed but not often used).
Vouvray is also the name of a pretty little town just east of Tours on the northern bank of the Loire—its vineyards surround it to the northeast. Houses and cellars are carved out of the local tuffeau, a chalky or sandy, fine-grained limestone. Vineyards inhabit clay and gravel topsoil over tuffeau on the plateau, the best of which have a slight slope with a southerly aspect.
Chenin blanc’s high acidity and natural adaptability allow it to produce a wide range of styles with enormous success. Styles under the Vouvray name include sparkling, both Brut and Demi-Sec and still: Sec (dry) and Tendre (off-dry) as well as Demi-Sec (noticeably sweet), Moelleux (very sweet) and Liquoreaux (botrytized). Most can age about five years but the best quality versions will continue to improve over decades.