Winemaker Notes
#83 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2022
The original Huët vineyard is nearly 9 hA. It has the richest soils of the domaine’s three crus - a deep limestone-clay - and the wines are generally the estate’s most approachable. In some vintages, small quantities from nearby estate parcels may be added to Le Haut-Lieu.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
This is a very fine, fragrant and floral Le Haut Lieu Sec. While delicate, the 2021 fills the mouth with a cloud of pure fruit reminiscent of violets, apple and nectarine skin. There's a fine sinew that pulls the wine through on the finish. It can be approached in its youth but will go on and on.
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James Suckling
A wealth of sliced-pear, white-peach and citrus-zest aromas with a hint of honeycomb makes this dry Vouvray very appealing. Abundant succulence in spite of the rather sleek palate. Long, very silky finish with impeccable balance. From bio dynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Vouvray Le Haut-Lieu Sec offers a clear and intense bouquet of ripe and concentrated fruits, with chalky and sur lie aromas. Pure, linear and fresh on the palate, this is a lean yet tensioned and thrilling, enormously saline Vouvray Sec that is as pure and fresh as rarely before. Almost ascetic but full of thrills and tension, the 2021 shows all the features of a classic, cool vintage and indicates excellent aging capacity. The tannins are chalky and interwoven with the saline and crystalline acidity. There's not much texture here at this early stage, but this will develop with bottle age. 13% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in March 2023. Best After 2027
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Wine Spectator
An elegant white with beautiful fruit purity, featuring freshly juiced apple, fleshy lychee and baking spice notes that build in intensity on the palate. Shows salty acidity that's nicely set against a buttercream note, with salted caramel marking the crackling finish.
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.