Winemaker Notes
Overall the Mâcon area did not suffer from 2016 spring frost. The crop was good, homogeneous, and of quality, with attractive wines offering various aromatic hints. Fresh, pleasant, and appealing, the wines develop a fairly seductive spell.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2016 Joseph Drouhin Pouilly-Vinzelles speaks well of the under-appreciated AOC. TASTING NOTES: This wine delivers enticing aromas and flavors of dried earth, brown twigs, and candied apple. Enjoy it with lemongrass-accented, grilled chicken thighs, and wild mushrooms. (Tasted: February 27, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
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.
Perched upon a steep, east-facing scarp, which it shares with the sup-appellation of Chaintré, Pouilly-Vinzelles borders Pouilly-Fuissé on its eastern side. Vineyards here overlie the same Jurassic rocks that form the upper slopes of the Monts du Mâconnais with soils, predominantly clay and limestone, varying from the upper to lower slopes.
A fine Pouilly-Vinzelles (always made of Chardonnay) will have a bouquet of honey, acacia, stone fruit and citrus; its power and fresh mineral character will carry it into age, with the possibility of developing qualities of green almond, hazelnut, quince, cinnamon and toast.
When young, pair a Pouilly-Vinzelles with fresh water fish, escargots de Bourgogne or choucroute with sausages and potatoes. After some age, these natural partners to wild morels and chicken or duck with turnips.