Le Mont is a steep, rocky, 8-hectare vineyard that sits atop the same chalky slope as Clos du Bourg, overlooking Tours. The vineyard lies further down the slope than Le Haut Lieu (which as the name, the high place, suggests, is much higher up the slope). The soils here are very stony (limestone) and there is a greenish band of calcareous clay running close to the surface. This is a site that typically produces very mineral, nervy wines and hence it is mostly dry and off dry whites that come from here. However the incredibly long, warm and dry growing season of 2009 allowed the site to perfectly ripen the fruit to a standard that enabled Huet to produce a remarkable Moelleux 1er Trie. The reviews below give you a fair idea of the cornucopia of flavours you can look forward to. For our part let's just say this sits comfortably at the top of its class.
"This wine has a very pure and intense nose, with fine aromatics, with nuances of yellow plum, star fruit and vanilla. The palate is similarly fabulous, broad and elegant, very persistent and pure and polished. An excellent wine with huge potential for the cellar. From a 2010 Huet update." 19+/20, The Wine Doctor.com (July 2011)
"Pungent candied citrus rind, smoky black tea, iris, quince preserves, and a distinctly alkaline note inform the strikingly intense nose of the Huet 2009 Vouvray Moelleux Le Mont 1er Trie. This elixir of close to 100 grams residual sweetness makes the corresponding "regular" moelleux taste like demi-sec alongside. It boasts an extraordinary mineral presence for a wine so rich, viscous, and honeyed, with saline, smoky and alkaline elements all offering counterpoint, and tightly-wound (or should that be "fast flowing"?) springs of fresh citrus convey energy and refreshment also uncommon in a wine of this ripeness. Here too is the sense of levity that in the best instances accrues to wine from air-dried, subtly desiccated fruit. Expect this seamless beauty to have a glorious future of three or more decades.
David Schildknecht 94, eRobertParker.com #190