Domaine Huet Clos du Bourg Sec 2017
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The golden-yellow colored 2017 Vouvray Clos du Bourg Sec opens with a fine yet concentrated nose with notes of finely milled limestones and chalk intertwined with lime zest and lemon juice aromas—pure, precise and fine, with a lovely hint of reduction. Lush, precise and highly refined, this is a round, juicy, very elegant, pure, vital, chalky and persistently salty Vouvray with great mineral tension and a frisky, endless, salty finish. The Clos de Bourg is tight and mercilessly pure, with mineral vibrancy and a highly stimulating, even mouthwatering finish. Very fine tannins and great balance give this wine huge aging potential—20 years or more. Tasted in March 2019.
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Wine Spectator
This glistens, with glazed pear, warm persimmon, green plum and quince flavors, all carried by elegant white ginger and verbena notes. A light gilding of piecrust adds to the flattering feel, though there’s ample acidity here for balance and drive. Drink now through 2032.
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Today, Domaine Huet may be making its most consistently great wines. As was one of the earliest adopters of biodynamic practices, and with years of experience working with the appellation's greatest terroirs, winemaker Jean-Bernard Berthome and his team are achieving a fascinating level of transparency, purity, and knife-edged balance in the wines.
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.