2018 Domaine Huet Cuvee Constance Vouvray Moelleux Loire Valley 500 ml

Among lovers of sweet wines, Huet’s Cuvée Constance is spoken about with the sort of reverence that only a few other wines in the world inspire. Sourced from three of the greatest vineyards in Vouvray, painstakingly selected bunch by bunch, and only made in the very greatest years, it’s an epic bottling that combines bold and rich fruit with decadent sweetness and electric minerality and tension.

This nectar is a bolt of pure pleasure that lights up places in your brain that most other wines could only dream of hitting—and the critics have noticed as well. Though the 2018 has yet to be rated by any publications, Constance has averaged 98 points from Wine Spectator across every vintage. Wine Advocate, same story.

2018 was a hot vintage in the Loire that was perfect for ripening Chenin Blanc to exotic beauty, and Cuvée Constance should go down as one of the greatest-ever bottlings from the region. It shows why Huet’s historic estate has, since its founding in 1928, become the gold standard of Chenin Blanc—it’s “justly regarded as the leading property in the Vouvray region,” according to the late Clive Coates MW.

Huet’s three parcels—Le Haut-Lieu, Le Mont, and Clos du Bourg—compose most of Vouvray’s première côte and are widely considered to be some of the crown jewels of the entire Loire Valley. Huet was also an early adopter of biodynamic farming and stands as a model for small producers around the world for their attention to detail in both the vineyard and the cellar.

Rich and luscious but with equally striking acidity, this is an undeniable stunner that will last decades.