1989 Vouvray Moelleux Le Mont 1er Trie Fin de Pressee
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Such was the quality of the 1989 vintage, that Noël Pinguet decided to create a number of special cuvees of Huet's Moelleux Le Clos du Bourg. Huet's 1989 Vouvray Le Mont Moelleux Première Trie Fin de pressée – this special designation is used to identify this cuvee as one where the juice has been left overnight to macerate on the skins – has a deep but clear and luminous amber color, similar to the corresponding Clos du Bourg 1ère Trie Essai. Its bouquet is deep, intense, absolutely precise and fresh in its spicy expression of white pepper, nutmeg, laurel, blood oranges, tangerines and noble ripe Chenin raisins that were, according to Noël Pinguet, not attacked by botrytis cinerea, although he picked very late in 1989. On the palate this Le Mont is just perfect: very intense and concentrated, honey-sweet and smooth in its gorgeously ripe fruitiness, but also piquant, mineral, and full of finesse and tension. It is very compactly structured but with a lot of perfect fruit flesh. It is velvety textured, with even more power and fruit concentration than the Début de pressée version, which is more silky and tender but shares the same pronounced acidity. The finish of the Fin de pressée is endlessly long and aromatic, and the wine will surely survive most of us. This is the kind of wine that's – like the 1947 Le Haut-Lieu – kindly asking for a 100+ scala. Pinguet himself designates the 1989 as the best vintage he's ever made and puts it straight next to the legendary 1947.
Critic scores
John Gilman, View From The Cellar
Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
Luminous golden-yellow in color, the ginger-flavored 1989 Vouvray Le Mont Moelleux Première Trie shows the subtle and herbal-flavored, coolish and aristocratic bouquet typical for this lieu-dit, which is adjacent to the Loire with its green-tinged marl and silex soils. Very clear and delicate yet intense and concentrated fruit aromas, along with chamomile and mineral flavors on the nose, migrate to an extremely finesse-full and highly elegant palate with sweet peach aromas and a great and intense, stimulatingly pure, precise and salty but most of all endless finish. This Le Mont seems terribly sweet but isn't technically spoken: 79 grams per liter is 13 grams less than in the Haut-Lieu 1ere Trie and just a third of the Clos du Bourg 1ere Trie Essai. However, there is no fat or boldness here since the sugar is lapped around from the vivacious acidity and the crystalline minerality of this straight, filigreed yet firm and absolutely delicious wine that seems almost eternal in its vitality and energy. A gothic cathedral built on Chenin Blanc. According to Noël Pinguet there was no botrytis in 1989: "The berries were absolutely healthy when they dried on the vines in a vintage that is the best I have ever made and stays side by side with the legendary 1947." (145 EUR; 243 GBP)
I have been very, very fortunate in my lifetime to drink some of Domaine Huët’s greatest wines, but if I had to pick one single vintage since 1947 here to nominate as my favorite, it would probably be the brilliant 1989s, which simply have everything that I adore in great Vouvray. The 1989 Le Mont Première Trie is still a handful of years away from complete blossoming, but its greatness is already manifest on both the nose and palate and it is all too easy to drink this wine right now! The bouquet is a stunning array of orange, apricot, heather, honey, chalky soil tones, orange peel, the first vestiges of barley sugar and just a whisper of remaining lanolin. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, pure and laser-like in its focus, with a bottomless core, great acids and outstanding length and grip on the still slightly shut down finish. Aromatically, this wine is already hitting on all cylinders, but on the palate, it is still asking for just a bit more patience. It will be magical! 96+. Nov 2016, www.viewfromthecellar.com, Drink: 2022-2085+
Luminous golden-yellow in color, the ginger-flavored 1989 Vouvray Le Mont Moelleux Premiere Trie shows the subtle and herbal-flavored, coolish and aristocratic bouquet typical for this lieu-dit, which is adjacent to the Loire with its green-tinged marl and silex soils. Very clear and delicate yet intense and concentrated fruit aromas, along with chamomile and mineral flavors on the nose, migrate to an extremely finesse-full and highly elegant palate with sweet peach aromas and a great and intense, stimulatingly pure, precise and salty but most of all endless finish. This Le Mont seems terribly sweet but isn't technically spoken: 79 grams per liter is 13 grams less than in the Haut-Lieu 1ere Trie and just a third of the Clos du Bourg 1ere Trie Essai. However, there is no fat or boldness here since the sugar is lapped around from the vivacious acidity and the crystalline minerality of this straight, filigreed yet firm and absolutely delicious wine that seems almost eternal in its vitality and energy. A gothic cathedral built on Chenin Blanc. According to Noel Pinguet there was no botrytis in 1989: "The berries were absolutely healthy when they dried on the vines in a vintage that is the best I have ever made and stays side by side with the legendary 1947." (145 EUR; 243 GBP) Nov 2015, www.robertparker.com