2002 Huet Petillant

Jay Miller

Jay Miller
Starting to open up. Still in bud stage but it's not that tight little bud surrounded by green that it was a year ago, a few individual petals are visibly detaching from the central mass.

I can see this progressing steadily to where the glorious 1995 is now.
 
I really need to try another bottle of this. My one experience was really kind of round and plodding, and disappointingly lacking in finesse, drinkability etc.
 
I managed to keep my hands off my bottles by leaving them in California until the fall shipping season. I'm now looking forward to their arrival even more.
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
I have not tried any of this, and fear I don't have enough money in my bank account.

You don't have thirty bucks in your bank account?

These are indeed tough times.
 
Well, Chris, first, I was kind of making a joke. It's obvious from your posts that you have no sense of humor whatsoever, so I recognized that you have to wrestle with this whole concept, but hang in there.

Second, if I ordered a single bottle, I'd have to pay about $10 in shipping (since, I think, NY is the closest locale for me to purchase). $45 is an expensive bottle of wine for me. However, if the NY cabal insists on praising this stuff so shamelessly, my hand may be forced.
 
Damn, I'm a newby on Huet Petillants and I've been drinking too many of my stash and now I find out that I'm supposed to let them age. Well I have enough left to try one soon and then stay away, I guess. But if what they've tasted like over the last year is too young, than I can't wait proper maturity.
 
Well Jonathon, now you know how I felt when I read one of Chris' tasting notes on an older Petillant and how much they improve. Of course in my case IIRC I read it immediately after the last of the 1997s vanished from the shelves of all NYC stores. It was a long wait for the 2002 but that was only my second case purchase of anything in my life (and the first that wasn't a mistake).

Anyone know when the second release is due out? And if there will be any way to distinguish it by the label?
 
Jay - is this the November 2007 dinner? I read those notes (in another place), which include the 02 and the '64, but not the '95. Nice notes, by the way.
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Jay - is this the November 2007 dinner? I read those notes (in another place), which include the 02 and the '64, but not the '95. Nice notes, by the way.

Nope, there was something earlier this year where Don opened the 1995 which I hadn't had in quite a while. I thought Brad had posted notes on it but I can't find them. Anyway, while I'm sure Joe will disagree I'm not sure it will really get "better" though I doubt it will start declining until 2030 or so...
 
originally posted by Jay Miller:
Well Jonathon, now you know how I felt when I read one of Chris' tasting notes on an older Petillant and how much they improve.

This one?

Huet Vouvray Petillant 1987: Delightfully layered and complex aromas, hints of tea, lemon, lightly singed bread and a rich truffley-earthy streak mixing with the usual minerality--there is much offering up and revealing going on here; first the wine offers up some pretty smells, then it reveals more pretty smells, finally blooming into utter and complete pretty-smellishness. Light in body but intensely flavorful, I sit and quietly enjoy as the flavors swirl and flicker in my mouth like fireflies. (1/22/01)

or maybe this one?

Huet Vouvray Petillant Demi-Sec 1964: Medium to medium light gold color. Warm yellow-brown honeyed nose. Smells great, lemon-pollen and wax. Tastes crisp and lean, sharp and not as rich as the nose suggests at first, the upfront hard edges growing a velvety skin as they surge through the midpalate, finishing with a feathered flurry of earthy-mineral layers. Very lightly fizzy, very nice to smell, a bit lean to drink. Lisa brought this home from a night out on the town somewhere, perhaps it was better freshly opened. (11/11/01)
 
I have only a brief note on it, but recall it as a beautiful wine, showing much better than the 1996 Chiquet Special Club that evening:

1995 Hut Vouvray Petillant Brut - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray (5/14/2008)
Dinner at Don and Melissa's (Upstate Manhattan): This wine is drinking beautifully. It's open and aromatic, with yellow fruits and hints of apple with chalky undertones. It has picked up some honeyed richness from bottle age and showed much better than the Champagne.

I'm keeping hands off the 2002 by leaving them in France. How's that for discipline? They were great over the summer. I just can't swallow the price hike on these shores.

Any news out there on the late-disgorged version?
 
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