Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The nose of the 2012 Pouilly-Fumé Vinealis certainly picks up the oak, but if you dedicate this bouquet just some minutes of your time – and believe me it’s worth to do so, all the more so if you managed to snatch one of the rare bottles – you discover the real character of this beautiful elegant Fumé. Lovely Physalis, peaches and nectarine aromas in the beginning are enriched with freshly stewed wild mushrooms served with flat-leaf parsley on a washed stone with a dash of citrus. Suddenly, the oak fades away and you discover a pure, highly elegant, and noble-structured and philosophic wine that might eliminate you from your environment and drag you in total into its matter. "Don’t just drink me, detect me," the wines seems to say when you are already fully absorbed. Although this powerful wine is highly rich and complex it is a hymn to the freshness, elegance and balance of Pouilly-Fumé, whereas the intensity and length of fruit and minerality of the broad, rich and persistent 2012 is absolutely unique.
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.
Famous in the Loire and throughout the world for perfumed Sauvignon blanc, Pouilly-Fume sits due east, across the Loire River from Sancerre. Limestone soils with clay and flint (also called silex) contribute to the wines' freshness and often times smoky, flinty, mineral character.