Product Review
Pungent candied citrus rind, smoky black tea, iris, quince preserves, and a distinctly alkaline note inform the strikingly intense nose of the Huet 2009 Vouvray Moelleux Le Mont 1er Trie. This elixir of close to 100 grams residual sweetness makes the corresponding “regular” moelleux taste like demi-sec alongside. It boasts an extraordinary mineral presence for a wine so rich, viscous, and honeyed, with saline, smoky and alkaline elements all offering counterpoint, and tightly-wound (or should that be “fast flowing”?) springs of fresh citrus convey energy and refreshment also uncommon in a wine of this ripeness. Here too is the sense of levity that in the best instances accrues to wine from air-dried, subtly desiccated fruit. Expect this seamless beauty to have a glorious future of three or more decades.
Incredibly dexterous, Chenin Blanc is capable of producing a wide range of styles from lusciously sweet to bone dry and sparkling to still. Indigenous to the Loire valley in France, some of the most popular sub regions include Savennières (exclusively dry), Vouvray, Montlouis, and Coteaux du Layon who's villages, Quarts de Chaume and Bonnezeaux make, when the weather permits, some of the finest dessert wines. In it's new home, in South Africa, it has taken over as the most planted varietal accounting for nearly a fifth the area under vines in the whole country and double what is grown in France. It may not retain its wet wool and honeyed aroma but its naturally high acidity is a saving grace for the countries hot Mediterranean climate.
The Loire, often referred to as the 'garden of France', is a diverse though sometimes under-valued region. From west to east, its sub regions include; Muscadet, Anjou & Saumur, Chinon & Bourgueil, Vouvray, Touraine, Sancerre & Pouilly-Fume.
White wine is a wine whose color can be pale-yellow, yellow-green, and yellow-gold colored. The wine is produced from a variety of grape varieties. The flavor and color comes from the juice of the grape and sometimes the skin of the grape as well. Interestingly, not all white wine comes from white grapes. Some select red grapes are used as in Champagne.
