Title Moulin Touchais & Gaston Huët
Author: Linden Wilkie
Venue: I.O.D. building, 116 Pall Mall, London SW7
Date article was added: 25/03/05
Date of event January 27, 2004
This tasting was a tale of two halves. The first flight was a mini-vertical of Moulin Touchais from 1986 back to 1945 – 5 vintages. The second half was a selection of Vouvray moelleux from Gaston Huët.
Moulin Touchais
Les Vignobles Touchais are a large grower and negocient in Anjou. Their top wines – sweet Anjou and Coteaux du Layon – are labelled ‘Moulin Touchais’ and age well for decades, as this tasting bore out.
I had been alerted to this browsing through Michael Broadbent’s Vintage Wine, with many favourable tasting notes dating back to the excellent 1928 vintage. Several auctions later and I had assembled five examples.
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On tasting the 1986, 1964, 1949, 1947 and 1945, the general consensus at this tasting was that Moulin Touchais does indeed age very slowly – the 1986 seemed undeveloped, while the all but the 1945 (which was fine) seemed amazingly fresh. |
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The one common criticism of these wines – an in particular this was noticeable after trying the Huëts – is their lack of complexity. They are delicious, but fairly direct, monolithic wines.
Gaston Huët
One of the world’s great wine producers, Gaston Huët makes age worthy chenin blanc that retains freshness while developing great complexity.
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I was initially a little under whelmed by the 1990 and 1989, though both opened up in the glass. However, it was when we got to the 1947 that the full potential of this estate was revealed. The wine is mind-bogglingly good. |
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The 1997 ‘Cuvée Constance’ tasted afterwards showed, perhaps, a 1947 in embryo. It has more concentration than the 1947 (indeed, that is a natural consequence of the wine being an all-botrytis blend of the estate’s 3 vineyards – Clos du Bourg, Le Haut Lieu, and Le Mont), but is understandably quite unevolved.
For a review of a tasting of eight vintages of Huët Vouvray, including the '1er Trie' version of the 1947 Moelleux, click here
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