2009 Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Mont

The Huet 2009 Vouvray Sec Le Mont smells of fresh fennel and lime zest, bringing a lot of the same citrus pip and rind bitterness to the palate impression and finish as did the corresponding Le Haut-Lie. An oily textural sense is offset by a streak of juicy fresh citrus that helps balance the wine’s bitter elements, while overt chalk dust and a white pepper element serve for tactile sizzle in an energetic, scintillating finish that alternates citrus, herb and mineral. This will be interesting to follow for at least 3-4 years, but I am not convinced that its relatively aggressive phenolics and alcoholic fullness (though certainly it betrays no heat) will take kindly to long term cellar exposure. Noel Pinguet professes great confidence in his 2009s and pleasure in one of those rare vintages where it was possible to bottle everything from sec through Cuvee Constance. That said, he admitted that achieving a balanced dry wine was challenging, and total production of sec was down from the estate norm; that of demi-sec, surprisingly, even more so (represented by a single bottling); virtually half of the vintage production being moelleux. While acknowledging similarities to 1996, Pinguet finds 2008 most closely resembles 1988. His is one of the few 2008 collections from Vouvray or Montlouis that is clearly less consistent than the corresponding 2009s, which he also finds more interesting. Importer: The Rare Wine Co., Sonoma, CA; tel. (800) 999-4342