For the record, an '02 Haut-Lieu sec that I served to friends Thursday was everything it should have been – round, oily, very honeyed, with nice acid structure and no oxidation whatsoever. 91.7++ for me.
I’m 2 for 4 now, and 2 for 3 in the last three years.
Here’s Frank’s bottle. Really great wine tonight and same experience two years ago with the same vintage.
Great acidity with tart yellow fruit and medium plus weight followed by a strong acid finish. Wife said “taste fancy” and I’ll go with that.
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I haven’t touched my 2005s. I was thinking about waiting at least a decade more, but Brad maybe I should pull a CDB Sec from the cellar to eat with your famous chicken.
More Huet has shit the bed?
See, this is what happens when people cry wolf with premox.
I’ve mentioned before that from what I’ve heard, the issue with the '02s was that the domaine reduced the amount sulfur that they normally used that year. The problems were numerous and were reported globally. Folks on this board reporting off bottles here and there on various other vintages since '02, are almost assuredly due to storage/transport issues in the distribution/sales chain, plain old poor vintage conditions and folks relatively new to drinking Chenin not knowing that Loire Chenin sometimes shows oxidative characteristics on a normal good day.
Always happy to make my famous chicken and drink Huet with you and comrade Sasha. Of course, you know '05 wasn’t my favorite vintage for their drier wines given the riper grapes and lower acidity…
Me either. 
Ive had 3 or 4 different oxidized huets from other than 2002 years. It happens.
But you’ve also had many great Huets—those seem to be the ones we open together. Maybe you just need your Canadian and North Carolinian good luck charms? 
A bit off-topic, but a 2009 Le Mont Moelleux opened last week was fledgling but wondrous.
Sorry you had the unhappy experience Gary–hopefully doesn’t replicate with your other bottles.
Yes, but there’s a big difference between oxidized wine and premox.
Sure but one was an 05 and at least two other 1eres from the 90s and in each case I had other bottles that were just fine, so Id call all of them premoxed.
You’d be incorrect in calling them that and that’s part of the problem with folks just calling out premox whenever they have an oxidized bottle of wine. Premox is a specific condition where the origin of the fault is based at the winery and affects a large percentage of production of a specific bottling/vintage.
Drank a 1982 Le Haut Lieu Sec last week. What a fantastic wine (despite that not being an especially noteworthy vintage for Vouvray). Starting to get close to peak, but not quite there yet to my taste. 1945 Moelleux is just about ready if you have any of that, though. Does benefit from a couple of hours in a decanter to open up.
Had a 1945 Moelleux Le Haut-Lieu a month back that didn’t have a whiff of oxidation — not a drop, despite being completely browned through. Was absolutely gorgeous. They don’t make ‘em like they used to!
I think people may need to be more careful picking the vintages they want to cellar. 1945 was an exceptional year. Not all vintages are phenomenal for any place or producer, let alone the Loire. If you were to ask me my 3 favorite vintages of Huet this century, the sweet list (Moelleux & Premiere Trie: 2002, 2009, 2005) would be completely different from the dry list (Sec & Demi-Sec: 2008, 2010, 2015).
A recent 1957 Clos de Bourg Demi-Sec was incredibly fresh and much lighter in color than a 1997 Champalou Moelleuse opened with it. Tasted blind, I don’t know if I would have gotten within 40 years of the vintage on the Huet.
That '57 always shows nicely and lightly colored. Of course, they were using a lot more sulfur then.
Additionally, and this ties in with the whole premox debate, folks should bear in mind that they were pressing the grapes harder in the old days, so there is more phenolic strength to the wines which may offer more protection to the wine. As I’ve said on other Huet threads, this change and along with modern winemaking practices, additional ripeness due to global warming and the generally reduced levels of sulfur being used, may be changing the aging curve not only for Huet, but for a lot of our favorite wines. The jury is still out. However, when it comes to Chenin, I’d argue aging is relative and on a much longer timescale.
2007 Haut Lieu has last week was brilliant
Well premox is short for premature oxidation. The name does not indicate a cause. Afaik, no true cause has been identified. If I see a clearly faulty cork, I may not call it premox, however with a winery that has clearly suffered from premox as you refer to it, and a seemingly intact cork, with bottles from the same lot being sound, I will continue to call it premox. Same thing for Fevre. It is, in fact, premature oxidation.
Some rather interesting points brought up here. First, I’ve had the pleasure and honour of drinking with both of you and respect both your palates tremendously.
I had not been aware of that, what I’ll call “technical”, meaning to premox, Brad, so thanks. That said, I myself use the term in the way that Berto has. I’m keenly aware of the difference between oxidative wines—which I often quite like—and wines that are oxidized before their normal and usual time, which I use the term “premox” for. I guess the question with Huets and Chenin in general is, what is that timeline? There, Brad, I’d defer to your far greater experience with 'em…with an additional question----is there variation for you across the different cuvees? (e.g. does Clos du Bourg get oxidative faster than Le Mont or Le Haut Lieu, e.g.?)
Sante,
Mike