Spot on.

The Caveman

A blog that I read on a regular basis and have yet to sight here on my little ode to joy. William (Bill) has a couple of joints in my (wish to be?) adopted hometown of Montreal. His writing is quite good and he tends to cover European wines, which of course is right on.

He recently wrote about a tasting of the wines from Domaine Huet. For those of you unfamiliar, this is arguably the single greatest producer of Chenin Blanc in the whole of the Loire, much less Vouvray. The wines are (for me) nearly indescribable. It seems Bill figured out how to do the impossible.

"Pinguet replied that great Vouvray was all about ‘equilibre’ and ‘verticality.’ I would translate ‘equilibre’ as the tension between acidity and sugar, minerality and fruit, each dancing in perfect harmony with one another, supporting but never overshadowing their partner. The verticality lies in the soil and the sky, from the depths of the roots to the tip of the vines, each working towards building this tension. It’s a man waxing poetic about something that he loves. That’s cool. Again, purity is the word here: no chapitalization, no malo, indigenous yeasts, old wood if wood is used at all, and nominal additions of sulfer. Vinification is the afterthought, it all happens in the vineyard (which seems to run contrary to much of modern winemaking)."

Damn right.

I highly recommend you check out the reviews of the wines. You can see them here

I only wish I could have been there.

And by the way, I've got the Le Haut-Lieu Vouvray Sec 2004 available in 375ml. It is unreal.