The pinnacle of Noël Pinguet's production is named after Gaston's mother, Constance. Schildknecht is absolutely correct when he says this wine will age for several decades; this is a baby, perfectly balanced, viscous and pure. We have been fortunate to enough to try the '05 on a number of occasions now and it simply a wine that you cannot find the superlatives to describe adequately. It is ultra refined, incredibly complex for such a young wine, and a remarkable exercise in sugar/acid equilibrium. Pure, intense and ethereal the wine offers a refreshing finish that belies its power. Although it is a sweet wine, the style is closer to the great sweet wines of the Mosel than those of Sauternes or Alsace. It floats across the palate. It will live for 50 years + and yet it is a joy to drink now. In short, even if you drink sweet wines rarely, this is a wine that you will never regret having in your cellar. It is one of the finest late harvest wines we have ever tasted. It also recently topped Robert Parker's Wine Advocate Loire valley tasting garnering the highest score of the hundreds of wines tasted. The note below says it all.
David Schildknecht: [Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, August 2007] 96 points, Extraordinary "Comprising a virtually berry-by-berry selection of perfectly botrytized fruit from each of the domaine's three sites, the Huet 2005 Vouvray Cuvee Constance will be virtually ageless. Quince jelly, marzipan, lemon candy, heliotrope, and honey levitate from the glass, in anticipation of the startling elegance, lift, and lightness of touch that this elixir exhibits on the palate, for all of its intensely honeyed richness. Fresh grapefruit and lemon leaven the wine and balance its 137 grams residual sugar, and the finish is astonishingly fresh and juicy, yet displays confectionary (marzipan, vanilla creme) and patisserie (buttered pastry with quince filling) sides as well. Anyone hoping to net and pin down in words this splendid butterfly of a wine will fail, but if you do pin down a bottle, let it soar across the next several decades."