TN: 1969 Huet- Vouvray Moelleux Clos du Bourg

B

Brad Kane

Brad Kane
David Goldfarb called me over in the afternoon spur of the moment to share this bottle to see how it was given my comments to him recently that all my experiences with '69s, dating back to my first one around '98 or '99, revealed a rather appley and oxidative wine across both Demi-Secs and Moelleux from both Le Mont and Clos du Bourg. Well, David's had his bottle stored longer than all but one of the bottles I'd previously tried and, indeed, this bottle lacked the intense oxidative and baked apple character of most of those have shown. Aromatically, the wine didn't thrill me. It lacked fruit, aside from a little bit of appleliness, and was dominated by earth aromas, but lacked freshness. On the palate, it was a interesting roller coaster of a ride that lasted about two hours. Neither David nor I were particularly impressed with the wine from the get go as it was unfocused, plump and showed its sugar easily. However, after spending a bit more time in the decanter, the wine came into focus with the acidity brightening up and the sweetness moving more into the Demi-Sec range. Pleasant apple, persimmon and peanut flavors emerged with nice earthiness. About an hour or so in, the wine momentarily took off. There was a terrific intensity to it, the sweetness moved back into the Moelleux range, the fruit was vibrant. Just clicking on all cylinders. However, that high lasted only about twenty minutes before the wine visibly aged in the mouth. The fruit receded, earth notes started to dominate with a light bitter note and the finish dropped off. At its peak, I'd call it an A-/B+. Overall, though, I think the wine is definitely showing its age and is a bit tired, so call it a Low B+. It was fun to chart the wine's ups and downs over two hours, though. Most informative.

_Huet-_Vouvray_Moelleux_Clos_du_Bourg_and_decanter.jpg
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
I love that decanter: it looks like you ordered it from one of Joe's lab catalogs.
Click to expand...

Not mine, but it is cool. Here are some other nice decanters David has.

Three_Vouvray_in_decanters-1.jpg
 
What's the point of decanting those older Huets? Do they start out reductive, or does he just like admiring the pretty colors?

Mark Lipton
 
Curious how changes in how a wine is perceived over the course of a few hours are always attributed to the wine itself, never to how the palate changes as it reacts to this or that.
 
originally posted by MLipton:
What's the point of decanting those older Huets? Do they start out reductive, or does he just like admiring the pretty colors?
Click to expand...

They've been cooped up a long time. They need to stretch. Thanks to Dougherty's generosity, I've had plenty of decanted older Huet and they've always seemed to benefit from a serious decant.
 
originally posted by Brad Kane:
originally posted by MLipton:
What's the point of decanting those older Huets? Do they start out reductive, or does he just like admiring the pretty colors?
Click to expand...

They've been cooped up a long time. They need to stretch. Thanks to Dougherty's generosity, I've had plenty of decanted older Huet and they've always seemed to benefit from a serious decant.
Click to expand...

I prefer whimsical decanting...more fun
 
originally posted by drssouth:
originally posted by Brad Kane:
originally posted by MLipton:
What's the point of decanting those older Huets? Do they start out reductive, or does he just like admiring the pretty colors?
Click to expand...

They've been cooped up a long time. They need to stretch. Thanks to Dougherty's generosity, I've had plenty of decanted older Huet and they've always seemed to benefit from a serious decant.
Click to expand...

I prefer whimsical decanting...more fun
Click to expand...

Too much 1969 Huet ends up in the purple ceramic daschund.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top