Domaine Huet

Since its founding in 1928, Vouvray’s Domaine Huet has been the standard-bearer for great, age-worthy Chenin Blanc. And to this day, year after year, the estate produces some of the world’s most compelling white wines. The domaine’s founder, Victor Huët, was a Parisian bistro owner. However, with lungs and nerves shattered by his experiences in WWI, Victor re-settled to the town of Vouvray in France’s beautiful Loire Valley. He soon purchased the first of his great vineyards, Le Haut-Lieu, in 1928, and Domaine Huet was born.

Victor’s son Gaston worked with his father from the beginning and assumed full charge by 1937. Gaston built the Huet legacy over the next 55 years, despite spending five years in a German POW camp during World War II. Gaston was joined in 1971 by his son-in-law, Noël Pinguet, and in 1978 by chef de culture, Jean-Bernard Berthomé. Together, they crafted legendary wines from their three parcels. 

In 2002, with Gaston ailing, a financial partner was needed to ensure the continuation of the estate’s rich legacy. Anthony Hwang, from New York, purchased a majority stake, and today his children reside at and direct the estate, ensuring that this benchmark producer has a strong future.

With Berthomé in charge of winemaking since 2012, the domaine may be making its most consistently great wines ever. It was one of the earliest adopters of biodynamics, and recent wines, perhaps more than any in the domaine’s history, achieve a fascinating level of transparency, purity, and knife-edged balance.

With the 2020 vintage, Vouvray native Benjamin Joliveau assumed responsibility for the estate’s wines. Starting as a part-time employee in 2003, and working full-time since 2009, Benjamin absorbed the fullness of Huet’s heritage from his two predecessors. And so, Benjamin and the Hwang family ensure that Gaston Huet’s legacy and philosophy will be passed on to future generations.