Domaine Huet Clos du Bourg Sec 2018
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Wine Spectator
Pure and expressive, with cardamom and verbena notes framing the core of yellow apple and quince fruit. Electric acidity fuels the flavors, but this remains a bit intense. The appeal comes through, but this is not fully open yet. Best from 2021 through 2031.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Vouvray Clos du Bourg Sec is the only dry Chenin produced at Huet that year. Tasted in May 2019, the Clos du Bourg opens with a delicate nose of white fruit and mirabelle plums, along with chalky and very fine sur-lie notes. The palate is intense, round and fruity but filigreed in its structure and persistent in its mineral grip and stimulating salinity. The yeasty texture gives this 13.5% alcohol Chenin a fine structure and mouthfeel. It's not very long or complex, but it's charming and pleasant to drink even young.
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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.