Winemaker Notes
The 2015 Les Combettes shows a light yellow color with subtle notes of green. Floral and mineral on the nose, with hints of exotic fruit and ripe apples. On the palate, the attack is full and fresh with aromas of white flowers. Rich on the finish, the wine is fresh, with a crisp minerality and good roundness.
The light structure of the wine does not allow extensive cellaring as the wine offers its best qualities in its youth and peaks between 3 and 6 years following the vintage.
A lighter cooking marries great with this wine like grilled fish, fresh salads and light cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A racy style, with bracing acidity setting the pace for apple, lemon and baking spice flavors. Persistent, leaving a tactile sensation on the finish. Best from 2018 through 2024.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Pouilly Fuisse les Combettes comes from limestone soil, with a small proportion of clay, in a small valley close to a forest that tends toward greater diurnal temperature variations. It is vinified 100% in used barrels aged between three and five years old. It has a crisp, chalk-scented bouquet with touches of linden and shaved almond. The palate is crisp and fresh on the entry, quite linear and taut, cohesive with light touches of walnut and ginger toward the persistent finish. This is one of the spicier releases from Château Fuissé in 2015.
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!