Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The orange/amber-colored Huet 2016 Vouvray Cuvée Constance opens with beautifully intense but also refined fruit reminiscent of pure raisins and ultra-ripe stone fruits and caramel notes intertwined with refreshing citrus fruit and some delicate peppery/spicy aromas. Silky, round and highly refined on the palate, this is a very intense, densely textured yet vibrantly fresh, saline and savory Chenin with very fine grained tannins and stimulating lemon bitters on the long, sustainable finish. The 2016 is another gorgeous Cuvée Constance, which is produced only in the very best vintages for noble sweet wines. 11.5% stated alcohol. 500-milliliter bottle. Natural cork. Tasted in April 2023. Best After 2028
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.