2003 Domaine Huet Haut Lieu Vouvray Cuvée Constance

Though I tasted this from bottle four years ago and gave a score of 100 points, I opened another bottle of the 2003 Vouvray Cuvée Constance recently to compare it with the 2015, and the 2003 vintage proves to be an outstanding sweet wine. The nose is intense, ripe, generous and precise, with aromas of dates rolled in bacon, nuts, almonds and dried and stewed stone fruit. On the palate, this is a highly concentrated, sweet but structured Chenin with fine tannins and a sweet, long and intense finish. The same wine from the bottle opened in 2015 is fascinatingly complex on the nose, with spicy tobacco flavors and searing acidity. What grip and tension here. It offers mocha and nougat flavors, great tension, raisins, apricots, salts and crushed stones. The old bottle outclasses the new one, which is very sweet, piquant and fresh but not as generous and long. Tasted in March 2019.