Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
This is so generous and juicy with a lovely interplay of flinty character and melted-butter richness. Nice orange and pear flavors from the get-go, but with aeration a nice hazelnut note develops.
Range: 90-91
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.