2019 Domaine Huet Le Haut-Lieu Vouvray Sec Loire Valley 750 ml

The 2019 Domaine Huet Le Haut-Lieu is a wine of singular achievement—full-figured yet crystalline, powerful but unpretentious, it shines among the brightest of today’s superstar whites. Sotheby’s has called Huet “the benchmark for [Chenin Blanc’s] potential.” It’s ageworthy, loveable, and exceptional in every way. 

Parker’s Wine Advocate gave this remarkable wine a 95-point rave, calling it “dangerously seductive,” and Wine Spectator advised readers, if they can withstand the temptation, to cellar it for years. Impressive for a wine this price—but those accolades still don’t capture its incredible value. 

Since its founding in 1928, Domaine Huet has become Vouvray’s most iconic estate, and one of the most celebrated Chenin Blanc producers in the world. Their three parcels (Le Haut-Lieu, Le Mont, and Clos du Bourg) compose most of Vouvray’s Première Côte and contain virtually all of the appellation’s Grand Cru vineyards. They were an early adopter of biodynamic farming and stand as a model for small producers around the world. In short, the Domaine Huet wines are legendary.

The key here is an essential sensory experience that defines Domaine Huet in general, and Le Haut-Lieu Sec in particular. Within them lies a deep, endlessly fascinating contradiction. On one hand, Huet stands at the pinnacle of refinement, a sparkling jewel in the Loire crown. The wine has an exotic, restrained bouquet, a perfectly laced fruit-earth profile, voluptuous yet dry, and an unparalleled textural precision, by turns waxy and racy, curvy and lean. On the other hand, at its core, beneath the layers of cool finesse, you find something like a simple pleasure: the radiant warmth of a friendly invitation to come in out of the cold.