Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
The seven-acre walled vineyard surrounds the winery and château. Old vines and a sheltered situation give this wine its richness. Enhanced by the wood aging, this wine is ripe with apricots and spiced pears cut with a mineral texture. It is still young and will be much better from 2019.
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Decanter
Discreet lime and apple nose - intense, with the new oak quite prominent. Tight attack, with a lot of extract and pungency and a stony finish. It is rather closed and a bit gawky now, but it's well structured and has ageing potential.
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Wine Spectator
A taut, linear version, with apple, lemon, spice and stone notes wound around the backbone of acidity, this is a bit austere in flavor yet remains long and focused. Drink now through 2024.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
The source of some of the most sought-after white wines of the Mâconnais, Pouilly-Fuissé is produced exclusively from the Chardonnay grape and tends to be slightly richer in style than wines from its northern neighbor, the Côte de Beaune—mainly due to warmer weather. Wines from Pouilly-Fuissé have some versatility; they can be enjoyed young and can also often improve with a little time in the cellar. Pouilly-Fuissé wines are considered some of the best values for white Burgundy.
Similar to the Côte de Beaune, the soils of Pouilly-Fuissé are mainly limestone and clay. The appellation includes the communes of Fuissé, Solutré (which includes Pouilly), Vergisson and Chaintré. The richest Chardonnay comes from Fuissé and Solutré-Pouilly, whereas the Chardonnay at higher elevation, from Vergisson, expresses more minerality and finesse. Pairing Pouilly-Fuissé with lobster or King Crab will bring great joy not only to your palate—but also your pocketbook!