Huet and Müller-Catoir

Dinner with some friends. After a very agreeable Chiquet NV Blanc de Blanc, we went on to a 1996 Huet Vouvray Clos du Bourg Demi-sec. I’m always a bit surprised by the dinky little corks Huet uses (fat, heavy bottles but short corks – what’s up with that?), but the wine was nevertheless in great shape, lighter gold than you’d expect for a 15 year-old wine. It had, for an Huet Vouvray, an atypical “lactic” aroma that I associate with full-on sweet wines such as Quarts du Chaume, but the wine itself was drier than sweet, more off-dry or sec tendre than a true demi-sec. Fresh bright acidity as you’d expect with a '96, medium bodied, it paired wonderfully with a starter course that included a poached egg, usually a tough matchup. No reason not to drink these now because they might start to decline in about 40 or 50 years.

1998 Müller-Catoir Gimmeldinger Mandelgarten Riesling Auslese. From a .375. Brilliant, just a brilliant wine. Fresh orange heading towards tangerine, intensely flavored and perfectly balanced. Not showing any age at all, really. Only light to medium bodied, not at all unctuous. At 9% abv it was the perfect end to a dinner. I’ve never had a less that wonderful wine from M-C, at least through 2001.

Two stellar producers, Frank; thanks for the notes. Jadot could do worse than to start using Huet corks for their whites. [wink.gif]

Yup. The Hans-Gunter Schwarz wines were really something special.

So really what’s happening with Piguet leaving is nearly irrelevant, as we’ll be drinking up all our Pinguet bottles for the next 50 years! [stirthepothal.gif]