Premox blues-2002 Huet Le Haut-Lieu Demi-sec

[David M. Bueker]

Bought on release and cellared with care.

Shot. Dead. Pushing up daisies.

What a shame David. Just checked CT, first four notes seem fair.

Think DaleW of this parish posted.....I seem to have more false alarms with Huet than any other wine. I often think it's corked, then whatever seems to blow off. This time I was worried that there were signs of oxidation, but nonlogically air seemed to help, and the wine freshened up with just a bit of time. Apple, orange zest, wool. Not the zippiest Huet, though in reality there is plenty of acid. Very tasty, drinking well from small format. B+ (1476 views) Report issue, Add favorite

[David M. Bueker]

That's the problem with premox. It's random.

FWIW, Thor and Theresa shared in the unpleasant experience. We all concurred on the diagnosis. Laura took our word for it.

Sorry about the wine, David.

I am new to Huet ( ), but I see CT notes by respected tasters which say Huet's dry whites can age gracefully for 50 years...

So, pre-mox aside (unless it is a systematic issue), what is a reasonable aging curve for Huet sec and demi-sec Vouvrays, etc.?

[David M. Bueker]

The wines should all be damn near immortal.

That really bites, David. It makes me feel a little less guilty that I finished my second bottle of it a few years ago.

Mark Lipton

Ouch. I should check what I have from Huet in 2002. Not much, I think; more from Foreau.

So I just posted elsewhere that due to this thread I opened my last half bottle of '02 LHL DS. Definitely advanced (though it seemed to improve with air), but drinkable, but not what 11 year old Huet DS should taste like. I should try my full bottles of Le Mont soon

Good luck, Dale. The 2002 Hiet Le Mont Demi sec I opened yesterday was not pre-moxed, but it was unbalanced and disappointing. It was suggested that it was going through a "grumpy" stage, but I think it is falling apart. I was also disappointed with a 2005 Huet not too long ago. I'm now thinking about drinking them sooner rather than later.

Well, I would expect 11 year old demi-sec to be "grumpy", not really an optimal time- if it didn't have oxidative notes personally I wouldn't worry too much. Unbalanced as in too much acid?

So I just posted elsewhere that due to this thread I opened my last half bottle of '02 LHL DS. Definitely advanced (though it seemed to improve with air), but drinkable, but not what 11 year old Huet DS should taste like.

I had my last bottle of 02 Foreau Demi-sec last week. It didn't taste oxidized but it was a little grumpy and rustic. Perhaps just a bad stage. It was also in the middle of a massive dinner with lots of other more impressive wines, so it didn't have the best chance or the most time to show well. Such is life.

So I just posted elsewhere that due to this thread I opened my last half bottle of '02 LHL DS. Definitely advanced (though it seemed to improve with air), but drinkable, but not what 11 year old Huet DS should taste like.

I had my last bottle of 02 Foreau Demi-sec last week. It didn't taste oxidized but it was a little grumpy and rustic. Perhaps just a bad stage. It was also in the middle of a massive dinner with lots of other more impressive wines, so it didn't have the best chance or the most time to show well. Such is life.

Generalisations are suspect but, of the leading Vouvray producers, Foreau's wines seem the most prone to prolonged grumpy periods starting quite early, often after their second winter. Chidaine claims that his wines do not shut down so tight due to earlier bottling and I have enjoyed Huet at times when I would expect Foreau to be closed for business. It's easy to mistake closed for breaking up and I would counsel Diane against being precipitate. Premox is another story but, as David says, it's random and I don't think it would be a good idea to drink up one's whole stock just because of one poxed bottle. There are even some "experts" who claim that poxed bottles come round but this is unprovable.

I wonder if some of the Loire bloggers like Jim Budd and Chris Kissack have looked at this premox issue. There was a time when they could be consulted via the UK wine pages but I haven't seen Jim around lately and, as has been revealed here, Chris is now asking for payment to access his blog.

[David M. Bueker]

Tim - FYI, I mentioned elsewhere that I have looked at some of my remaining 2002 stock, and see essentially random oxidation going on. Some bottles are orange through the glass, while others have no notable tint. For what it's worth, I did a further scan of the price stickers/labels, and the wines come from three different retail sources, all bought on release, on the two different coasts of the USA, and the apparent oxidation shows no pattern to being related to a particular retailer or purchase.

I am not sure in what months Huet usually bottle and ship their wines and I am wondering whether some 2002s may not have been subject to heat damage in France if they were shipped during the 2003 heat waves. I would not expect harm to occur in the deep Loire-side cellars but as soon as they are brought up and loaded for transport...

It was certainly feared at the time that 2002 Burgundies (a lot of shallow cellars) and Bordeaux (many ground level storage facilities) might have suffered during élevage.