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Four wines on tasting free of charge at our Bishopsgate shop from midday
'Just stop whatever you're doing... and get hold of Huet '10 Vouvrays. Clos du Bourg Sec so crystalline. Amazing QPR.' - Neal Martin, Twitter
Though Huet's wines are extremely well known, it is often the sweet styles that capture the attention and rightly so in many vintages. But Noël Pinguet is nobody's fool and when a vintage shrieks 'DRY' he concentrates on the Vouvray sec. 2010 is such a vintage. Such tiny quantities of moelleux were produced that it is unlikely to appear in the UK. So why is the dry so good? Noël decided to pick the fruit for the dry wines a little riper than normal, making them a tougher proposition in the cellar, with extended Zind Humbrecht-like long fermentations. But he has made wines that will drink beautifully younger, as well as age indefinitely. And how many places make wines with the class and seriousness of white Burgundy at these prices?
Chenin Blanc, the grape of Vouvray and whose spiritual home is the Loire, has an ability to age that equals Riesling - and far outshines Chardonnay. When young these wines have a telltale minerality that, together with the crisp acidity and Cox's apple freshness, gives the ultimate in refreshment. Biodynamic cultivation and the use of locally occurring yeasts allow these wines to express their sites with precision and fidelity. With age, that will be supplemented by more weight, more richness and a honeyed character creeping gradually in. /CW
The 2010 vintage wines are offered now, subject to confirmation, for shipment in 2012.
