Domaine Huet, Sweet Sweet Chenin

What’s my favourite grape you ask? Red is easy, Nebbiolo, no question. White on the other hand I might struggle to answer as quickly. Like every other wine ponce, I’m usually inclined to say Reisling for its depth and intrigue or maybe Chardonnay because, well Burgundy, no need to explain there. But when I actually think about the best experiences I’ve had with white wine, another grape creeps into my mind. A wonderfully versatile grape, one that makes hugely characterful crisp dry wine as well as enchanting fizz and my favourite style: the most decadent and down right naughty sweet wines I’ve come across. If you guessed Sauvignon Blanc, you’re barred; I am (as is often the case) talking about the fabulous Chenin Blanc!

I might keep my late night Chenin love letter for another time. Here, I will be chatting about my favourite Chenin producer and one of my top ten French wineries, Domaine Huet. Huet (pronounce the ‘t’!) are based in Vouvray and with just three relatively small vineyards, their range showcases the full power of this beautiful grape. From dry sparkling wine all the way to the sweetest most delicious kit in the North of France, they have something for everyone. I mean that, I reckon everybody will find something they like in Huet’s range.

In 1928, a chap called Victor Huet started his very own winery in Vouvray using the Chenin Blanc grapes from the nine-hectare vineyard around his house. Welcome to Le Haut-Lieu! That’s French for “I can’t be fucked picking a name so I’ll say it’s high up or something…” In 1947, Victor handed over the reign to his son, Gaston. Now this is where the Huet legend began. Gaston had just returned from the war where my favourite of his stories took place. Huet was detained in a German POW camp in 1943 where he rallied all his fellow French prisoners to organise a wine celebration. He made a full event of it, including theatrical skits, posters, a full drinking song choir and a bunch of carpenters actually making a model wine press, although it later transpired the wine press was only used as cover for the carpenters to tunnel out of the camp! Gaston somehow acquired some bottles from Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Loire, which he shared out according to preferences amongst all his POW mates. On the momentous day itself, Gaston obviously picked a Chenin from the Loire to drink for himself and although he couldn’t remember what it was or if it was actually any good, he did recall this: “It saved our sanity… Talking about wine and sharing it made all of us feel closer to home and more alive. It was only a thimbleful but it was glorious and the best wine I ever drank." I like this story because it reminds me that enjoying wine is about the experiences around it and their significance, not necessarily the technicality of production… although that does add to it!

Bringing his wartime leadership and love of wine home, Gaston swiftly got elected as mayor of Vouvray all the while developing his dad’s property. In 1953, he acquired the six-hectare Clos du Bourg followed by the nine-hectare Le Mont in 1957. Both vineyards predate Le Haut Lieu with records of the Clos du Bourg dating all the way back to the 8th century when it was known as Châtellerie du Bouchet. Fancy a cheeky theory? Some say that the Bordelais word for Cabernet Franc, ‘Bouchet’ probably comes from the very same grape grown at the Châtellerie back in the day! These three single vineyards and eleven hectares of other bits and pieces dotted about Vouvray make up the domaine’s thirty-five hectare holding.

In 1971 Gaston’s son-in-law Noël Pinguet hopped on board and helped run the domaine. Gaston converted fully to biodynamic farming in 1990, a philosophy that is maintained to this very day. In 2002, Gaston tragically passed away at the ripe old age of 92 leaving the operation in the rather capable hands of Noël and his chef de cave Jean-Bernard Berthomé. Noël found himself in the tricky situation of having to sell a bit of the domaine to help pay the French delight that is the death tax; luckily, New York businessman Anthony Hwang was the man with the cash and as a big fan of the wines already, he asserted zero influence over the culture instructing only to keep doing whatever it is they were doing. Noël eventually retired in 2012 leaving Jean-Bernard in charge of day-to-day operations where he remains to this day. Potted history done!

Whilst not technically biodynamic from day one, Gaston always embraced a very natural approach to winemaking. He always let nature do its thing and worked with what he was given. Cooler years yield only dry and sparkling wines made blending all three vineyards. Warmer years allow Huet to produce the fantastic sweet single vineyard wines mentioned above. In the very best vintages, they produce Cuvée Constance, a blend of grapes from what Gaston considered the very best parts of each plot. The wine is names after Gaston’s mother, a woman of very strict and very high standards, much like those to which the wine is held. Domaine Huet is constantly evolving whilst keeping a staunch biodynamic ethos. When I visited a couple of years ago, I found Jean-Bernard arguing with his chef de cave over weather or not it would be acceptable to blend the wines on a root day. Having had been to a few places that played music to their vines and/or wines, I asked if Huet followed a similar practice, the answer delighted me beyond all expectation. They have analysed the DNA of Chenin Blanc and converted it into audio wavelengths, which they play back to the fermenting and ageing wines. The wine is listening to its own DNA!!!

So what of these excellent vineyards? This is the bit where I get a bit nerdy, if you’re all about experiences and their significance, you can skip this paragraph. Le Haut Lieu is, you’ll remember, the original Huet vineyard. The soil is that sweet Vouvray sedimentary limestone covered by about three meters of brown clay. Here you get more aromatic and supple wines which age wonderfully well. Le Clos du Bourg is a walled number with much shallower soil over the limestone. The wines here have slightly higher acidity making excellently well-balanced booze. Le Mont, oh Le Mont, you sexy piece of land! Le Mont is arguably the best vineyard (I mean, you could argue against that but you would be wrong.) Here we’re talking green clay and flint peppered with the ever-vibey silica. With the highest acidity of the three plots, you can have crisp, clean and refreshing dry wine, or you can have the best-balanced sweet wine the region has to offer. Truly sensational kit! All three are age-worthy and all three are amazing so don’t get too caught up on which vineyard is best for you, just drink them all and have a great time!

Domaine Huet selects the grapes from each vineyard and divides them into four styles of wines: Sec (dry – fewer than 4 grams of residual sugar per litre), Demi-Sec (a bit sweet – 4-12 grams), Moelleux (really rather sweet – 12-45 grams) and Doux (straight up sweet – over 45 grams). Again, these are all excellent but in my opinion, the moelleux tend to be the very best.

Domaine Huet represents that perfect blend of tradition and innovation that the very best wineries of this world keep in mind at all times. Gaston was a true pioneer of both Chenin Blanc and biodynamic farming inspiring many winemakers around the globe. His wines often crop up in tastings alongside first growths and grand crus and they always hold their own. A couple of facts I just lifted from Wikipedia illustrate just how prestigious Huet is: Domaine Huet is the only Loire wine to have ever headlined a Christie’s auction and in Decanter’s 2005 article, ‘The 100 Greatest Wines Ever Made” Huet clocked in 6^th as the second best white ever (according to Decanter…) The first was obviously Yquem.

Now I tend to stay clear of the dark art that is pairing because it’s simply too exciting; but Gaston spent his life trying to find the very best food to have with his tricky sweet wines. His conclusion: Fourme d’Ambert, hit up your local cheese shop, you’ll weep at the intense pleasure.

Before wheeling out the wines in his POW camp, Gaston declared “To talk about wine, that is a wonderful thing, but to drink it, that is much better!” With that in mind I’m off to neck some Vouvray and you should do the same!