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Huet Vouvrays

Huet Vouvrays

Among the world’s great reference-point estates — Raveneau and Dauvissat in Chablis, Conterno and Mascarello in Barolo, Egon Müller in the Mosel, Montebello at Ridge, Burgundy's DRC— Domaine Huet stands as the undisputed benchmark for Chenin Blanc. For nearly a century, this singular estate has defined what Vouvray can be, transforming a historic Loire appellation into one of the world’s great white-wine terroirs.

Even though this offer contains library releases, I am leading with new releases from the 2024 vintage.  2024 is one of the greatest singular vintages ever made at this Domaine.  They are stunners, absolutely lights out, and you should add these to your cellar now, at these prices.

Domaine Huet — The Pinnacle of Chenin Blanc in Vouvray

Domaine Huet is located in Vouvray and is almost single-handedly responsible for that region's reputation as one of the best white wine regions in the world.  Chenin Blanc has been rooted in the Loire since at least the 9th century, but the modern identity of Vouvray begins in 1928, when Victor Huet, a Parisian restaurateur recovering from injuries sustained in World War I, left the city for the Première Côte, the steep, tuffeau-rich escarpment long recognized as the grand cru sector of the appellation. What followed was not simply the founding of a domaine, but the creation of a standard by which all Chenin Blanc would eventually be judged.

In the post-WW2 economic boom, the wines became legendary throughout France. Over the following decades, Victor and his son Gaston assembled what is now one of the most hallowed collections of vineyard sites in the Loire: Le Haut-Lieu (1928), Le Mont (1957), and Clos du Bourg (1953). These three vineyards — each bottled separately — form the historic and stylistic core of Huet, and together represent Vouvray’s closest equivalent to a grand cru hierarchy and are recognized by Loire insiders as the best sites in Vouvray.

While Gaston and Victor passed away long ago, not much else has changed at Huet. They still plow their vineyards by horse and were one of the first adopters of biodynamic farming in the Loire. The winemaking is totally traditional; vineyards are harvested in multiple passes by hand, the grapes are quickly pressed, and fermented in barrel by indigenous yeast. Nothing is added to the wines except a small dose of sulfur when the Huets think the wines have gone dry enough. Their attention to detail and careful farming come through in the wines. In youth, they're incredibly pure, loaded with wet rocks to offset Vouvray's classic honey notes. But it's with age that these bottles really shine. The aging capacity of Huet Vouvrays is nothing short of legendary. People tell stories of wines from the early 50s that are still beautiful. I've personally gotten to experience some bottles going back to the early 80s, and they've always been mind benders. The Demi-Sec and Moelleux wines, the ones with a little residual sugar (barely perceptible after some age) have been especially moving. 

These Three Historic Vineyards

Each site expresses Chenin Blanc through a distinct geological and textural lens:

Depending on the vintage and the progression of the harvest, each vineyard may be bottled in multiple styles: Sec (dry), Demi-Sec (a little sweet), Moelleux (a little sweeter), and Moelleux Première Trie (sweetest), the latter made from successively selected passes through the vineyard for the most perfectly botrytized fruit.

The "Moelleux" wines have the highest amounts of residual sugar, which means they can be cellared for many decades.  The dry wines also are extremely ageable due to their amazing acidity. Like a great German Riesling, the balance of acid, minerality, and sugar are what makes these later harvest wines so special, but as time passes in the cellar, sugars drop and become less overtly sweet, which you can expect as these wines age.

Whether in the tensile, mineral sec wines, the perfectly balanced demi-secs, or the botrytized moelleux that can age for generations, the theme here is unmistakable: clarity of terroir, absolute purity of fruit, and a structure built for time. For anyone seeking to understand Chenin Blanc, or the upper limits of white wine, Huet is not merely a reference point. It is the standard.


Wines arrive next week.   Pricing is heavily discounted, no further discounts available.

2019 Huet Vouvray Petillant Sparkling
Sale Price $32.99/btl
90pts Vinous: The 2019 Brut Vouvray Pétillant is a finely tuned, subtly sparkling wine with a supple, rounded, airy expression. It's light on its feet with a fine fresh fruit character and delicate, lees-derived almond flavor. A refined tow of acidity flows through on the finish. 

2023 Vouvray Haut-lieu Sec
Sale Price $35.99/btl
92pts Wine Spectator: Fresh-crushed apple, quince and spice notes have an earthy dimension, with hints of roasted agave and wet soil. There's beautiful range and just enough plumpness to make this generous, yet it's held in check by a chalky mineral element and very fine tannins. Toasted almond and salted butter notes move in, with lime-edged acidity cleaning up the finish. Refined and complex.

93pts Vinous: The 2023 Vouvray Sec Le Haut-Lieu is a pure, refined, seamless style with pear, pineapple and nectarine flavors. It boasts excellent clarity and refinement, with lovely freshness hailing from calibrated acidity that bursts through this blossoming wine. Considering this was only bottled three weeks before tasting, I’m very encouraged by the results

2024 Huet Vouvray Haut-Lieu Sec
Sale Price $35.99/btl
94pts View from the Cellar – John Gilman: Domaine Huët only produced the three Sec bottlings in the difficult vintage of 2024. Their 2024 Vouvray “Le Haut Lieu” Sec has turned out beautifully, coming in at a quite old school 12.5 percent octane and offering up a wonderfully precise bouquet of apple, quince, incipient notes of lanolin, lemon blossoms, chalky soil tones and a lovely topnote of beeswax. On the palate the wine is bright, focused and full-bodied, with a lovely core of fruit, excellent soil transparency and grip, a fine spine of acidity and lovely precision on the long, complex and impeccably balanced finish. This is an excellent wine! 2025-2075+.

2024 Huet Le Mont Sec
Sale Price $45.99/btl
93pts – View from the Cellar – John Gilman: The 2024 Vouvray “Le Mont” Sec from Domaine Huët is just a touch riper than the Le Haut Lieu bottling, coming in at an even thirteen percent alcohol in this vintage. The wine is deep and complex aromatically, but a bit more reticent in personality than the Le Haut Lieu, offering up scents of quince, hints of pear, a beautiful base of chalky soil tones, a bit of orange peel, lanolin and a topnote of dried flowers. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and rock solid at the core, with fairly broad shoulders, a fine base of soil, zesty acids and a long, well balanced and still very primary finish. Unlike the Le Haut Lieu Sec, the Le Mont is going to insist on some hibernation time before it starts to blossom and drink with a degree of generosity. 2030-2075+

2024 Huet Vouvray Clos du Boug Sec
Sale Price $45.99/btl
94+pts View from the Cellar – John Gilman: The 2024 Clos du Bourg Sec is an outstanding young wine and probably the finest of these three very good examples of dry Vouvray. Like the Le Mont, this wine comes in at thirteen percent octane, but it is far less bound up behind its structural elements today and offers up a stunning nose of apple, quince, lanolin, beeswax, a superb base of chalky soil and a top note of white flowers. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep at the core and shares the very elegant impression of the Le Haut Lieu out of the blocks, with even better depth at the core, superb soil signature and grip, lovely acids and a long, precise and beautifully balanced finish. This is a beautiful wine. 2025-2075+. 94+.

2020 Huet Vouvray Haut-Lieu Demi-Sec
Sale Price $49.99/btl
95-96pts Wine Advocate: The 2020 Vouvray Le Haut-Lieu Demi-Sec is clear, pure, subtle, deep and fresh, with highly refined chalky/sandy lemon aromas. Rich and intense yet silky textured and refined on the concentrated palate, this is a juicy, highly elegant, perfectly balanced, persistently salty and mouth-salivating Haut-Lieu with very fine tannins and a long, firm and pretty powerful but elegant and complex finish. Still more stringent than the Le Mont Demi-Sec in the beginning, but after aeration, this is not just a greatly finessed Chenin but one of the finest Haut-Lieu's I have tasted from Huet. Tasted as a tank sample in April 2021.

96pts Wine Spectator: DOMAINE HUET Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Haut-Lieu 2020 This broad, striking white is elegant and rich with complexity, featuring green melon, yellow fig, ginger and verbena notes, underscored with heather, stone, flint and spice details. Offers great energy and tension, showcasing expert craftsmanship. Drink now through 2036. 4,100 cases made.—

95-97pts Vinous: The 2020 Haut Lieu Demi-Sec offers a lick of juicy sweetness in its plump mid-palate but don't expect it to be heavy. It has a delightful texture that will leave you licking your lips and the inside of your mouth on the finish, giving an almost gourmand character. Fragrant, floral and fruity with pineapple, nectarine and florals. Fine, fresh and drawn out on the finish. [6/2022 - score 93) The 2020 Le Haut Lieu Demi-Sec is made in a perfumed, floral style, offering aromas of pear, orange citrus, white flowers and agave nectar. There's a sense of effortlessness about this wine, like floating along on a cloud of Chenin Blanc with nowhere to be in any hurry. And yet there's a real tension and poise on the finish. While it's demi-sec, offering 19g/L of residual sugar, the pH is a low 3.16 and provides a line of acidity that anchors the wine, leaving a just off-dry impression on the precise finish. A very complete wine, in its diapers yet massively drinkable already (Haut-Lieu tends to be the domaine's earliest vineyard to get into its stride), although Domaine Huet fans will know this has an assured future. - Rebecca Gibb MW 3/2021

93+ View from the Cellar – John Gilman: Domaine Huët’s 2020 Demi-Sec from the Le Haut Lieu vineyard is a beautiful young wine. The bouquet wafts from the glass in a youthful blend of apple, quince, lanolin, chalk dusty soil tones, a touch of honeycomb, orange peel and a topnote of dried flowers. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and racy, with a superb core of fruit, lovely soil undertow, lovely bounce and complexity and a long, zesty and superb balanced finish. This is a gorgeous wine in the making! Like all of the Domaine Huët wines when young, it should offer up a year or two of accessibility, before hunkering down for an eight to ten year period of hibernation, after which it will open up again and last sixty or seventy years! Fine juice. 2021-2085.

2022 Huet Vouvray Le Mont Demi-Sec
Sale Price $49.99/btl
95pts Vinous: The 2022 Le Mont Demi-Sec is less fruity and charming than, say, Clos du Bourg; its tension and line come from its flinty terroir. Despite its 21g/L residual sugar, it retains a sense of tautness without being totally linear. Radish and pear note Drink 2024-2038

2023 Huet Vouvray Le Mont Moelleux
Sale Price $51.99/btl
95pts Vinous: The 2023 Vouvray Moelleux Le Mont is a ripe, round, serious, suit-wearing wine style that's upright and conservative. It’s sweet (74g/l) but never feels luscious, and yet there's a tropical character to the fruit that gives richness to this reserved style. The effect of the flint is clear in the 2023’s sense of freshness. It's textured, pure, balanced and harmonious.-Rebecca Gibb

94pts View from the Cellar – John Gilman: Domaine Huët’s 2023 Moelleux bottling from the Le Mont vineyard is simply beautiful on both the nose and the palate. The bouquet wafts from the glass in a complex blend of yellow plums, sweet quince, honeycomb, chalky soil tones, incipient notes of heather, apple blossoms and a top note of gentle lanolin that will become more pronounced with the passage of time. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied and seamlessly balanced, with a beautiful core of fruit, a fine spine of acidity, good soil undertow and a long, complex and moderately sweet finish. This is a very elegant, filigreed rendition of Moelleux which will age like time cannot touch it! 2024-2085.

2020 Huet Vouvray Le Mont Moelleux 1er Trie
Sale Price $77.99/btl
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+.

2005 Huet Vouvray Le Mont Moelleux 1er Trie
Sale Price $154.99/btl
Chris Kissack - Wine Doctor, 96 points: "... rich in the scents of lightly candied fruits, along with toasted almond praline, dried fruits, sweet fig and grilled apricot, the evolution as well as the sweetness of the fruit showing through. The palate has a lovely texture and weight, with golden pear, praline and toast, underpinned by a pithy energy and great acidity. A style which is fresh, full, broad and very complete. Very long too. Great for drinking now, but clearly it has a few decades in it yet."

95+pts View from the Cellar – John Gilman: "The stunning bouquet is a blend of orange, apple, pineapple, beautiful chalky soil tones and white flowers. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, very deep and seamless, with beautiful, brisk, framing acids, outstanding mid-palate depth and haunting balance and focus on the very, very long and primary finish." 

2006 Huet Vouvray Clos du Boug Moelleux 1er Trie
Sale Price $154.99/btl
John Gilman - View From the Cellar, 94: "The bouquet on the 2006 Clos du Bourg Moelleux Premier Trie is beautiful, as it offers up a very delicate and ethereal blend of pineapple, chalk, edible flowers, beautiful minerality, bee pollen and fresh apricot. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep and creamy on the attack, with lovely mid-palate depth, and fine framing acids on the long, delicate and intensely flavored finish. I absolutely love the combination of delicacy and intensity that this wine delivers on both the nose and palate. Superb wine that should drink sooner than the monuments made at Huet in 2005, and a wine that should find its way into the cellar of every Loire Valley aficionado. (Drink between 2015-2045)"

James Suckling, 95: "(Domaine Huet Vouvray Clos du Bourg Première Trie Moelleux, Dessert, France) Very dense and creamy with stacks of creme brulee and dried apricot character. On the borderline of medium- to full-bodied, the fresh, citrusy acidity making it feel lighter than it is. Wonderfully vibrant finish that pulls you back for more." 

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