1962 Vouvray Moelleux Clos du Bourg

"Like 1961" from a "great vintage for drier styles rather than Moelleux" (Richard Kelley), Gaston Huet's deep golden-apricot-colored 1962 Vouvray le Clos du Bourg Moelleux has a clear, refined but intense bouquet but in a discreet and subtle manner. Displaying concentrated and cooked fruit and some grey bread and mushroom aromas on the nose, this sweet, intense, lovely balanced and very elegant Chenin reveals a full, firmly structured body with concentrated Chenin flavors, well articulated tannins and a persistent minerality. The finish is tight, powerful, very persistent and shows apricot confiture flavors with notes of caramel. There is this nice maturity of ripe and concentrated fruit flavors, but the tightly woven character of this bottle closes the wine in the first moments. Although I am rather skeptical whether a 53-year-old wine still has its ups and downs, I trust that the 1962 is better than it shows today. Its finish, however, is delicious and aromatic despite its slight astringency. It should be much better with food, cheese for example. (289 EUR) Concluding remark: I retested the wine 16 days later (!) again when it was exceptional. The rich, ripe and cooked apricot flavors were perfectly interwoven with the compact and mineral structure of this fiery, powerful and persistent wine. There is so much tension and structure here that the 1962 seems to be prepared for another 40-50 years to go.