La Taille aux Loups Les Hauts de Husseau Montlouis sur Loire sec 2024 white

La Taille aux Loups Les Hauts de Husseau Montlouis-sur-Loire Sec 2022 is a beautifully precise expression of dry Chenin Blanc from one of the Loire’s most revered growers. Sourced from one of the highest, coolest sites in the Montlouis appellation, it captures the grape’s trademark tension, minerality, and depth in a remarkably pure, refined style. This is Loire Chenin at a very serious level, yet with an effortless drinkability that makes it as compelling at the table as it is in the cellar.

Tasting Notes
In the glass, the 2022 Les Hauts de Husseau shows a pale to medium straw color with green reflections, signaling its freshness and youth. The nose is vibrant and focused, with aromas of crisp green apple, quince, white peach and pear interwoven with notes of wet stone, chalk, acacia blossom and a subtle flinty smokiness. Hints of citrus zest, honeycomb and fresh herbs add complexity as it opens in the glass. On the palate, this is a dry, tightly coiled Chenin Blanc with a striking core of acidity and finely etched structure. Expect a taut, mineral-driven profile: juicy orchard fruits, citrus (lemon, pomelo, grapefruit pith), and a saline, chalky edge that lingers through the long, precise finish. The old vines give texture and concentration without heaviness, and the cool exposition keeps everything finely balanced and energetic. While already delicious with food, the wine clearly has the backbone to age, gaining honeyed, nutty complexity and greater textural richness over 8–15 years, and potentially longer in good cellaring conditions.

Production
Les Hauts de Husseau comes from over 70-year-old Chenin Blanc vines planted in one of the highest and coolest sectors of Montlouis-sur-Loire, just across the Loire River from Vouvray. The terroir is classic for the appellation: a thin topsoil of sandy clay and silex (flint) over a deep, solid limestone (tuffeau) bedrock, which provides excellent drainage, moderates vine stress and imprints a pronounced mineral character on the wine. The vineyards are farmed organically, with careful canopy management and low yields to ensure concentration and balance. Harvesting is typically done by hand in multiple passes, allowing only perfectly ripe, healthy grapes to be selected. In the cellar, Domaine de la Taille aux Loups favors gentle pressing, native yeast fermentations and élevage that often includes time in quality oak (largely older barrels) on the lees, to build texture and complexity while preserving the wine’s tension, purity and crystalline expression of Chenin Blanc.

Food & Serving
This Montlouis-sur-Loire Sec is a superb gastronomic white, particularly suited to seafood and refined, subtly flavored dishes. Pair it with oysters, scallops, grilled or poached white fish, lobster, sushi and sashimi, or river fish with beurre blanc. It also shines with goat’s cheese (especially Loire classics like Crottin de Chavignol), poultry in light cream sauces, veal, and vegetable dishes such as asparagus, fennel, or leek tart. Serve at 10–12°C (50–54°F) to highlight its freshness and minerality; slightly warmer temperatures will bring out more texture and aromatic complexity. Decanting for 30–45 minutes in its youth can help the wine unfold, especially if served with richer dishes, though it will also evolve beautifully in the glass over the course of a meal.

Producer
Domaine de la Taille aux Loups was founded and brought to prominence by the late Jacky Blot, a pioneering vigneron widely credited with elevating Montlouis-sur-Loire to world-class status. Working on the left bank of the Loire, just upstream from Tours, he championed low yields, meticulous vineyard work, organic farming and precise, terroir-driven winemaking at a time when many in the region favored higher volumes and more neutral styles. Under Blot’s stewardship, and now under the continuity of his team, La Taille aux Loups has become one of the Loire Valley’s benchmark producers for Chenin Blanc, crafting dry and off-dry wines of remarkable finesse, energy and age-worthiness. The domaine’s cuvées from single sites like Les Hauts de Husseau are particularly celebrated for their clarity of expression and their role in showcasing Montlouis as one of the great white wine terroirs of France.

We deliver within 2 - 6 business days. You can choose whether it should be to a parcel shop or home delivery. Free delivery to both parcel shops and your front door. Our store partners primarily use GLS, DPD, UPS and DHL for deliveries. We cover deliveries to the majority of countries in Europe.