The wines from Le Haut Lieu’s rich brown limestone clay tend to emphasise the fresh floral character, fruit complexity and supple texture of Vouvray; Le Mont’s flinty ground produces an intense acidity and deep minerality.
97-98pts Wine Advocate: The intensely yellow colored 2020 Vouvray Le Mont Moelleux Première Trie is highly concentrated and complex on the nose that exhibits candied lemon zest and chutney aromas along with calcareous and walnut notes. Sweet (really sweet!) yet refined and elegant on the palate, this is a full-bodied, rich and generous yet piquant and firmly structured, greatly tensioned and salty 1ère Trie with pineapple flavors on the finely tannic and energetic, very sustainable finish. The 2020 has great aging potential, and I would never serve it too young. When will it really start to show its best? I don't know, but you can’t go wrong to check the wine again after 10 years. Tasted as a final sample shortly before bottling in May 2021.
94pts Vinous: Boasting 91g/L residual sugar, Le Mont's 2020 Première Trie offers additional sweetness as well as lower acidity compared with the Haut-Lieu Première Trie. As a result, this cuvée inevitably has a sense of additional richness and weight on the palate. It's balanced, but the richness means it has had to trade in some of its energy and finesse. Offering orange peel, apricot jam, floral essences and apple sauce, it's satisfying and nourishing, but I'd like more direction and purpose on the finish. That said, this is still a well-crafted and carefully made wine. -- Rebecca Gibb MW
97pts View from the Cellar – John Gilman: Domaine Huët’s 2020 Le Mont Première Trie is also young and stunning on both the nose and palate, with a bit more tropical personality than the Le Haut Lieu version, but the same sense of dancing refinement coupled to bottomless depth. The nose wafts from the glass in a mix of pineapple, sweet quince, lemon zest, honeycomb, a beautiful base of limestone, citrus peel and orange blossoms. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and already showing some creaminess on the attack from the botrytis, with a great core, a lovely tug of underlying minerality, bright acids and excellent focus and balance on the long, nascently complex finish. This wine has tremendous backend lift and should be an absolute cellar treasure once it is truly ready to drink. It is certainly approachable out of the blocks, but still fairly monolithic, with most of its inherent complexity hidden, so I would not touch a bottle of this wine for the next decade, just to allow it to properly blossom and start to show its true complexity! 2030-2100+.
