2008 Domaine Huet Haut Lieu Vouvray Le Haut Lieu Moelleux
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Tasting notes
Very clear and precise in its concentrated and very elegant fruit aromas of pineapples, peaches and skinned tangerines, the 2008 Vouvray Le Haut-Lieu Moelleux reveals a great elegance and sappy fruit concentration on the palate migrating to a very dense and aromatic finish. Beautifully balanced and stunningly accessible today, there is no need to wait but – please have a look on the other wines of this tasting – dozens of good reasons to do so, nonetheless. The aromatic aftertaste reveals a lovely salinity and stimulating grip, and the gorgeous sweetness is very well integrated. Very accessible already and of great finesse. 2008 was a small, low-yielding vintage with tiny, thick-skinned berries that were difficult to press without the result of over-extraction. High malic acidity levels were reported from this vintage, though in this case the acidity is absolutely lovely and lifting.
Critic scores
David Schildknecht, Vinous
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
With striking clarity and lift welcome in the present context though typical for the very best wines of its vintage, Huet’s 2008 Vouvray Moelleux Le Haut-Lieu smells almost like Gewurztraminer in its evocation of litchi and bacon fat, rose petal, pear and quince. Opulently rich and subtly creamy, its salinity and bright citricity keep it invigorating, and it finishes with admirable refreshment and perspicuous floral and mineral complexities alongside of ripe, honeyed quince and pear. 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
Very pale honey. Heady scents of botrytis – pretty good to get that for this money! Toasty and tingly on the nose. Very rich and youthful and gangly at the moment with the green elements still sticking out rather awkwardly. (JR)
With striking clarity and lift welcome in the present context though typical for the very best wines of its vintage, Huet’s 2008 Vouvray Moelleux Le Haut-Lieu smells almost like Gewurztraminer in its evocation of litchi and bacon fat, rose petal, pear and quince. Opulently rich and subtly creamy, its salinity and bright citricity keep it invigorating, and it finishes with admirable refreshment and perspicuous floral and mineral complexities alongside of ripe, honeyed quince and pear. ||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. eRobertParker.com.August, 2010