Winemaker Notes
Yellow golden color, the Les Brûlés shows aromas of ripe fruit, jam, melted sugar, hints of smoke and some delicate vanilla on the nose. On the palate, the attack is fresh and aromatic, round and dense, with a good fatness and a nice volume. Acacia honey, toasted bread some oak and hazelnut delicately smoked towards the finish. A full-bodied wine, rich and powerful.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Fermentation in new wood has given this small-production, single-vineyard wine extra richness. Lightly smoky, the wine is ripe, with white fruits balanced by juicy acidity. It will be better from 2020.
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Wine Spectator
Complex, revealing clean lines and well-defined flavors of vanilla, peach and lemon, with a hint of lanolin. Intense and long, featuring a persistent finish that echoes spice and picks up a mineral note. Drink now through 2025. 60 cases imported.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aromas of honeycomb, fresh pastry and minty yellow orchard fruit introduce the 2017 Pouilly-Fuissé Les Brûlés, a medium to full-bodied, satiny and enveloping wine that's broader and weightier that the Combettes, which remains nicely balanced, with lively acids and chalky structuring extract. Rating: 92+
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!