Domaine Huet L'Echansonne

Domaine Huet is one of Vouvray's most historically significant estates, situated in the heart of the Loire Valley in the Touraine district of central France. The domaine has long been associated with biodynamic viticulture and produces wines exclusively from Chenin Blanc across several distinct vineyard sites, including Le Haut-Lieu, Le Mont, and Clos du Bourg. It is one of the reference points against which Vouvray is measured.

Vouvray is an appellation defined entirely by Chenin Blanc, a grape capable of producing a remarkable range of styles — from bone-dry (sec) to off-dry (demi-sec) to fully sweet (moelleux), as well as sparkling wines. In sweet vintages, botrytis-affected grapes yield moelleux wines with high natural sugar levels balanced by Chenin Blanc's characteristic high acidity, giving them considerable aging potential. The Clos du Bourg is a walled vineyard plot regarded as one of the finest sites on the estate, planted on tuffeau-rich soils that give the wines both minerality and structure.

The 2009 Clos du Bourg Moelleux represents the sweeter end of Huet's production, from a warm, generous vintage that produced richly concentrated sweet wines across the Loire. Moelleux from a site like Clos du Bourg in a ripe year typically shows honeyed stone fruit, quince, and beeswax, underpinned by the bright acidity that allows such wines to develop over decades in bottle.