Visiting Domaine Huet, the best-known winery in Vouvray
Website: https://www.domainehuet.com/
Huet is one of the great names of the Loire, and perhaps the most famous winery in Vouvray. We visited on a beautiful July day. Appropriately, we began in the vineyard, in one of Huet’s three vineyard sites, Le Haut Lieu. Altogether they have 30 hectares of vines split across these sites.
Sarah Hwang, owner, and winemaker Benjamin Joliveau, told the story of this place and Huet’s journey.
Victor Huet, a bistro owner, wanted to change his lifestyle, and in 1928 when his wife Constance discovered Vouvray vineyard Le Haut Lieu was for sale, they bought it, including the wine stocks. Son Gaston studied agronomy, and later became a winegrower. During the second world war he served in the French army but ended up spending most of it in a German prisoner of war camp. He returned home as a hero, became mayor of Vouvray in 1947 (an office he held for 40 years) and built up Huet’s reputation, and added Le Clos de Bourg to their holdings in 1953.
He had no one to take over from him: his son decided he wanted to become a photographer instead. But his youngest daughter was married to Noël Pinguet and they were living in Paris, but on Gaston’s urging they moved back and Noël took over the reins in 1976. He converted the domaine to biodynamics in the late 1980s after meeting François Bouchet, and liked the result of a trial they did in the 1988 vintage.
Gaston Huet died in 2002, and the death duties caused the domaine to be sold to Anthony Hwang, whose daughter Sarah is now running things here. Pinguet last made the wines in 2011, before quitting in 2012. This is when Sarah and her brother Hugo moved to the domaine to take over things. Long-term winemaker Jean-Bernard Berthomé remained, providing continuity.
The three sites, Haut Lieu, Clos de Bourg and Le Mont form a sort of triangle, with the winery in the middle. Haut Lieu has deep clay soils, sometimes a few metres deep, with lots of fertility. Here the vineyard is cultivated. Farming is biodynamic.
Clos de Bourg has much shallower brown clay soils over the top of chalk. This gives wines with more texture and power. Le Mont has dense clay with some flint and quartz. This gives wines with more linearity and backbone.
They make a range of styles, as is normal in Vouvray, from dry, to off-dry, to sweet. They always have a little bit of residual sugar in their wines. ‘We are not afraid of sugar,’ says Sarah Hwang. Often the style of the wine will reveal itself during fermentation. ‘We don’t rush to pigeonhole the juice.’
Harvest usually takes four weeks, with a sorting table in the vines. Every bunch is examined, says Hwang. She says it is immensely fatiguing.
Domaine Huet Brut Petillant 2019 Vouvray, Loire, France
Fermented in older oak barrels, then spends 3 years on lees, disgorged with a dosage of the Moelleux. Fresh, fruity, linear and bright with crisp citrus notes and a touch of green apple. Linear with slightly chalky structure. Detailed and fine. 91/100
Domaine Huet Vouvray Clos de Bourg Sec 2024 Loire, France
In 2024 they made just dry wines. 7 g/l rs here. Clos de Bourg is shallow clay soils over chalk. Very youthful with some pear fruit and some pithiness. Fine, fruity and linear with nice texture. Lively and focused with a hint of sake and chalky minerality. 93/100
Domaine Huet Vouvray Clos de Bourg Sec 2021 Loire, France
Subtle honey and toast on the nose. Mineral and stony with nice lemony detail. Really nice pear and ripe apple fruit. Fine, juicy and linear with a tapering finish. 94/100
Domaine Huet Vouvray Le Mont Demi Sec 2023 Loire, France
Aromatic nose of sweet pear and peach, as well as a hint of apricot. Nicely textured. Bold and rich and quite mellow, with a touch of sweetness. Fine-grained, with a touch of grip, finishing relatively dry. 94/100
Domaine Huet Vouvray Le Mont Demi Sec 2017 Loire, France
Slightly smoky on the nose. Vivid, stony and savoury with nice acidity. Lemony with some pear and a hint of peach, as well as some wet stone notes. Hints of straw. Very expressive with liquid rock minerality and some marmalade, finishing dry. 95/100
Domaine Huet Vouvray Haut Lieu Moelleux 2022 Loire, France
Textured and youthful with lovely pear and white peach fruit, as well as some lemon. Youthful and taut, with nice sweet fruit. There’s attractive stony detail. This is really appealing but it’s very young. 94/100
Domaine Huet Vouvray Haut Lieu Moelleux 2018 Loire, France
Complex and finely spiced with a hint of marmalade. Nice citrus drive. This is beginning to develop real complexity with hints of aniseed and sake. 95/100
Domaine Huet Vouvray Le Mont 1er Trie 2022 Loire, France (magnum)
Full gold colour. Powerful, honeyed and rich with notes of apricot and marmalade, as well as some savoury spicy notes. Textural and quite mineral with hints of straw and spice. Very fine and detailed, finishing fresh but not too sweet. 96/100
Domaine Huet Vouvray Le Mont 1er Trie 2005 Loire, France
Complex with toast, spice, raisins, minerals, tea and apricot. The palate is bold and full with a savoury, spicy twist and nice intensity. Bright and well structured with the sweetness balanced by all the savoury characters. So intense, and quite beautiful. 96/100
