A Lovely Drop of Vouvray
Back in 1997, or closely thereabouts, Pam and I took a trip to France’s Loire region. We were living in Germany at the time for Pam’s military assignment, and we wanted to drive over to see another of France’s wine regions. We’d loved the wines we’d had from the Loire, and wanted to explore the area in person.
At the time I was writing a regular column on food and wine on CompuServe’s Wine Forum. Yes, CompuServe. It was that long ago… Through online friends we were able to get appointments at a few great wineries in the region, including Baumard in Savennieres, Druet in Bourgueil, and Domain Huet in Vouvray.
Huet has for decades arguably produced some of the world’s finest chenin blanc wines. For people who love what great chenin blanc can be, visiting the Domain is like a pilgrimage to Mecca. Well, except they don’t have wine at Mecca. But you get the idea.
Pam and I arrived at Huet and found to our surprise our tour guide was none other than M. Gaston Huet, the son of founder Victor Huet. Gaston was 87 at the time, so it was like being shown around by our grandfather. We followed him to several vineyards where he discussed wine growing practices, then off to their winery to see their production facility, and finished off with a tour of their caves where Huet’s sparkling wines are stored.
M. Huet is a consummate showman, and showed us he’s still able to quickly riddle a rack of sparkling wine bottles, giving each bottle a quick twist, shake, and tilt to help dislodge the wine’s sediment and move it down the neck for later disgorgement. M. Huet’s hands flew across a rack of roughly 30 bottles in seconds, then gave us a huge, beaming smile as if to say “I still have it!”
We finished up our tour tasting his wines in the front parlor of his home. M. Huet stepped out to his store room to gather up the wines we’d purchased. As we stood on the front step saying our farewells I noticed a separate wine case off to one side. I’d already gathered up our wines, so I didn’t say anything about the box.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” M. Huet asked? He was full-on in his prankster grandfather mode—the extra box was a gift for us with extra bottles of the two or three favorites we’d sampled with him.
It’s been many years since we drank up the last of our bottles from that trip. Occasionally Pam and I would see one in a store and purchase it to reminisce about the wonderful trip.
Today I was in a local Ashland market and ran across a bottle of Huet 2008 Molleux, one of Huet’s sweeter productions. A ten year old wine, especially an overseas wine, sitting on a store shelf is always a gamble. The odds are high that wine that old has suffered, sometimes badly, during transportation and storage.
What the heck, I said to myself. I bought it and am enjoying it as I write this and recall some fond memories. Yes, the wine’s suffered, but there’s enough of its core to bring a smile to my face thinking of a great trip with my wife.
At the time I was writing a regular column on food and wine on CompuServe’s Wine Forum. Yes, CompuServe. It was that long ago… Through online friends we were able to get appointments at a few great wineries in the region, including Baumard in Savennieres, Druet in Bourgueil, and Domain Huet in Vouvray.
Pam and I arrived at Huet and found to our surprise our tour guide was none other than M. Gaston Huet, the son of founder Victor Huet. Gaston was 87 at the time, so it was like being shown around by our grandfather. We followed him to several vineyards where he discussed wine growing practices, then off to their winery to see their production facility, and finished off with a tour of their caves where Huet’s sparkling wines are stored.
M. Huet is a consummate showman, and showed us he’s still able to quickly riddle a rack of sparkling wine bottles, giving each bottle a quick twist, shake, and tilt to help dislodge the wine’s sediment and move it down the neck for later disgorgement. M. Huet’s hands flew across a rack of roughly 30 bottles in seconds, then gave us a huge, beaming smile as if to say “I still have it!”
We finished up our tour tasting his wines in the front parlor of his home. M. Huet stepped out to his store room to gather up the wines we’d purchased. As we stood on the front step saying our farewells I noticed a separate wine case off to one side. I’d already gathered up our wines, so I didn’t say anything about the box.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” M. Huet asked? He was full-on in his prankster grandfather mode—the extra box was a gift for us with extra bottles of the two or three favorites we’d sampled with him.
It’s been many years since we drank up the last of our bottles from that trip. Occasionally Pam and I would see one in a store and purchase it to reminisce about the wonderful trip.
Today I was in a local Ashland market and ran across a bottle of Huet 2008 Molleux, one of Huet’s sweeter productions. A ten year old wine, especially an overseas wine, sitting on a store shelf is always a gamble. The odds are high that wine that old has suffered, sometimes badly, during transportation and storage.
What the heck, I said to myself. I bought it and am enjoying it as I write this and recall some fond memories. Yes, the wine’s suffered, but there’s enough of its core to bring a smile to my face thinking of a great trip with my wife.
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