I’ve just been rereading what I wrote about my encounter with the late Gaston Huet, the most respected producer of Vouvray in the Loire. “He believes in hanging on to his wines for years before selling them,” I wrote in 1981. I suspect that even he might be surprised to see a wine as old as 1919 from his beloved Domaine Le Haut-Lieu being released by Berry Bros. By several curious turns of events, the London-based wine merchant is in the process of acquiring nearly 2,000 cases of grand old Huet Vouvrays. Along with Huet’s German importer Vinaturel, Berry Bros will be offering various combinations of this historic stock over the next few months and I would urge anyone interested in fully mature white wine to register their interest, or try the Wine Society, which has selected vintages.
最近我重讀了自己寫過的一篇與加斯頓•予厄(Gaston Huet)見面的文章，已經辭世的予厄先生是盧瓦爾地區(the Loire)內武弗雷(Vouvray)產區中最受敬仰的釀酒師。我在1981年的文章中寫道：「他堅信，自己釀造的葡萄酒在上市之前，一定要在酒莊內保留多年。」不過即便如此，我估計當予厄先生看到自己摯愛的悅偉莊園(Domaine Le Haut-Lieu)的葡萄酒現在居然有1919年份的在貝瑞兄弟(Berry Bros)上銷售，也會大喫一驚吧。通過一輪又一輪的努力，貝瑞兄弟正在不斷收購予厄的超老年份武弗雷葡萄酒，入手量已經接近兩千箱。這家總部位於倫敦(London)的酒商將與予厄的德國進口商自然佳釀(Vinaturel)合作，在未來的幾個月中銷售該莊園各種老年份葡萄酒的打包組合產品。對於喜愛陳釀白葡萄酒的酒友來說，我認爲這是一個出手的好時機。除了這兩家酒商之外，酒協(Wine Society)也精選出了一些年份的產品供消費者選擇。