The Hwang’s are probably feeling some pressure after what has been deemed a disappointing duo of vintages (11 and 12). I have a few 11s but haven’t opened any. I avoided 12s based upon the guidance of several voices in the community I trust.
One can only hope that with time, they understand that the Loire needs champions to bring it from relative obscurity, and Chris and Jim have been those champions. For years, the Parker Patrol has bashed wines from the region*, and only in the last few years has there been a steady chorus of online supporters (guys like Kissack, Budd, Kane, Asimov, SFJoe…) providing much needed attention to the region. For a flagship estate such as Huet to engage in such strong-arming and to not expect the community to feel dismay is nearsighted and poor business practice. Of course, nearsighted poor business practices/PR isn’t anything new for purchased enterprises engaged in nepotism…
*While the bashing has been primarily the “vegetal” reds, my perspective is that a rising tide brings up all ships. If you are the “La Tache” of a region, you want to Vosnee Romanee to be doing well!
What is the endgame here for Huet? That once Jim and Chris are allowed to taste again, they will only write nice things from now on? Get real. Seems like there was enough forethought here to know they were coming and to plan on turning them away, but this move clearly wasn’t well thought out beyond that. Why not just mail them an envelope full of TCA.
This seems to be a personal reaction and not a thought out business decision. It will be interesting how they manage any fall out from the decision. I suspect that they will ignore it and the importers will keep buying…
Will they? This strong arm moves stinks of desperation. As Faryan notes, the 2011s weren’t great, and the 12s I had…let’s just say I would get banned too if I voiced my opinion.
Obviously 2013 will be a struggle simply based on how tough the vintage is.
Add it all up? Things could get tough at Huet if their 2014s aren’t stellar.
I’m saddened and astonished by the whole affair and greatly appreciate the support being shown to Chris and myself here.
I first visited Domaine Huet in August 1979. It was the first Loire domaine I ever visited. At the time I was an English teacher and certainly had no thought about writing about wine. We (Carole and I) turned up unannounced at Le Haut-Lieu towards the end of the afternoon and were welcomed by Gaston Huet, himself. He was utterly charming and we must have spent a good hour with him – tasting a moelleux from the 1960s if I remember rightly – perhaps a 1966, which was on the retail list at the time.
Subsequently I met Gaston on a number of occasions and then Noël Pinguet frequently both at the domaine and at various events and tastings. Over the years we have bought regularly from the domaine and some of the greatest wines I have tasted and drunk have come from Domaine Huet. We celebrated my father’s 90th birthday with a 1919 le Mont Moelleux (his birth year). Soon after Anthony Hwang bought the domaine in 2003 I met him and his wife. They were always charming and friendly. I haven’t seen Anthony since the 2012 Salon des Vins de Loire.
Naturally I covered Noël’s departure both in Decanter and on my blog – Domaine Huet is one of the few world famous Loire estates so it would have been ridiculous not to have done so. This included printing a reply to some questions I asked from Sarah Hwang. Although I posted her response unchanged she has accused me of twisting her words. Re-reading my posts I can find no evidence of this and have invited her to send me instances of where I have ‘twisted’ her words. No response to my email as yet.
Like Chris I was disappointed with the two 2012 Huets – Le Haut-Lieu and Clos du Bourg. These were bottles I have bought from the domaine in late September. As Chris was coming to stay for a few days in Touraine for the harvest I saved them to taste together. Carole also tasted them at the same time. I gave her Le Haut-Lieu blind and she was astonished that it was a Huet.
When I posted about the 2012s I stressed that the vintage was difficult and that I still had a bottle of each wine and would subsequently taste them again to see how they had developed in bottle. I plan to do so in the next few months and to buy a couple of bottles of the 2012 le Mont if it is still available when I’m back in the Loire in early March.
The 2012 Le Mont was released later and I tasted it at the Renaissance tasting in Angers (1st/2nd February 2014) – before the ban was imposed – found it impressive for the vintage and have said so on my blog.
I will buy what samples I need from the domaine but sadly suspect that we will now be buying our Vouvray for pleasure from other producers.
Chris K, whom I have followed for many years until the site went to a paid subscription, is as good and objective of a wine writer as I have seen. Loire should be thrilled to have such a devotee to their wines, and clearly Huet has been one of the biggest beneficiaries.
And Rovani certainly was pleased with them the few times he wrote about them and I know Bob has enjoyed the '89 Constance and his birth year, '47. There just wasn’t as much coverage until David got there.
I’m curious if Mssr Gilman could chime in on the '12s. His comments were on the other spectrum of you and some other bloggers who highlighted the difficulties of the vintage in Vouvray.
Exactly. Much in the same way that Tirecul La Gravière receiving a few 100-pointers doesn’t mean there was interest in or coverage of the Southwest of France.
Does the fact that Kissack put up a pay wall, and can no longer be considered a mere hobbyist wine blogger enter into this? I agree that it was bad form on the part of Huet, but I can see at least a glimmer of a point on their part. Since the site is now subscription, I’m not able to read what Chris wrote about the 2012 vintage and his tasting notes, so am unable to judge for myself.
Seems like it changes the nature of the relationship. It’s one thing to develop a relationship with a producer and write about that and the wines from the perspective of a hobbyist (albeit a very serious hobbyist). It’s another thing to use that inside access to make money. By its nature, being a professional critic is tricky business. Slam a producer, and except in rare cases you probably aren’t going to get the same level of cooperation and access. As I said, I can’t read what Chris wrote about the vintage, so can’t really judge how “careful” he was in his comments. It does sound like the Domaine overreacted. It’s not like it’s hard (or even expensive) to find the Huet wines, taste them and write about them, so in a way I think they’ve done themselves a disservice by alienating someone who will now write most of what he would have written anyway in future years, but do so from a less friendly perspective.
Critics should be free to slam producers. The fact that they don’t, in order to retain favor/access/herd acceptance, is the larger issue at play imo.
Producers who respond to critics who critique them by blacklisting them are simply asking for bad PR. It is amateur hour. The smart guys know how to massage these situations more favorably for them.
Such defensiveness and a notion that any criticism can be shouted down and shut out smacks of insecurity and as noted above, immaturity.
I’m used to the ego before brains approach in the music business and I suppose it shouldn’t come as a surprise to see it in the wine business, too. But a domaine of Huet’s stature should really behave with a little more style and decorum. What a shame.
I’m not happy with what happened, but it’s worth noting that he can still taste the wines when they are released to the public. Obviously, he won’t have the benefit of publishing his notes as soon as he would normally. And he doesn’t get the benefit of talking to the winemaker. But he can still describe the wines.
And the paywall means his reviews, especially the favorable ones, are seen by a lot fewer wine buyers. So looking at it from Huet’s perspective, there’s tremendous risk from bad reviews with diminished returns on good reviews.
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