1996 Vouvray Le Haut-Lieu Sec, Gaston Huët

Compared to the cool dense green stone of Le Mont, Haut Lieu higher up on the plateau is an altogether more facile terroir, iron rich and red. The Vouvray wines tend to be fruitier than the quivering Le Mont, yet deceptively so for Haut-Lieu ages just as well. Take this wine: the nose a fascinating weave of beewax, honey, straw, brioche, even of cellar mould (they grow mushrooms in those trogladyt white cellars you know), while the palate's drier than expected, bone-dry even, bone-china pure (as is Haut-Lieu's wont), racy acidity of course. 'Fabulous' is the note I ended on, and so it is. Great now with some pork.
(David Berry Green, BBR Buyer)