Domaine Huet is the defining estate of Vouvray and one of the most revered sweet wine producers in France, farming biodynamically from 35 hectares of old vine Chenin Blanc across three premier lieux-dits in the Vouvray appellation. The Cuvée Constance is the estate’s most ambitious and rarest sweet wine, produced only when conditions allow the development of botrytis to the degree required for a wine of extraordinary concentration, balance and ageing potential. The wine is not made in every vintage: it requires the specific combination of late-harvested, fully botrytised Chenin Blanc whose natural residual sugar, acidity and mineral extract can support decades of bottle development. The name honours Constance Huet, wife of the estate’s founding proprietor Gaston Huet, whose dedication to the estate and its philosophy was as foundational as Gaston’s own legendary advocacy for Vouvray and biodynamic viticulture.

The 2016 Vouvray vintage was excellent for sweet wines: the combination of a warm summer that brought full phenolic ripeness with the autumnal humidity from the Loire that encourages botrytis development produced Chenin Blanc of exceptional concentration, natural acidity and aromatic complexity at Huet. In the context of the Domaine du Haut-Lieu’s holdings, where the Haut-Lieu vineyard’s deep silex and clay-flint soils produce Chenin of particular mineral precision, the 2016 Cuvée Constance should represent one of the finest moelleux bottlings in recent years: a wine combining the legendary quality standard of the Constance designation with the exceptional conditions of a great Vouvray sweet wine vintage. The 500ml format is the estate’s traditional size for the Constance cuvée.

Huet’s Cuvée Constance is among the most sought-after sweet wines in France, and its production in quantities far smaller than Sauternes or the most celebrated German Auslesen and Trockenbeerenauslesen ensures that each vintage attracts immediate demand from the wine world’s finest restaurants and private collectors. A 2016 Constance represents an acquisition of the highest significance in the Loire sweet wine category, and the 500ml format is a practical and cellar-friendly size for a wine that will remain at its peak for decades.

Deep gold with a complex, botrytis-enriched nose of crystallised apricot, honey, saffron, quince, dried orange peel, clover and a mineral freshness from the silex-rich Haut-Lieu terroir. Full-bodied and viscous on the palate with extraordinary natural acidity providing structure and length, remarkable concentration and a very long, complex, mineral finish of great elegance. Best from 2026 through 2070.