2011 Pouilly Fuisse Cuvee Claude Denogent

The 2011 Pouilly-Fuisse Les Cras Cuvee Claude Denogent has a more intense nose than Denogent’s fellow cuvees with gorgeous, very pure orange blossom, mandarin and grapefruit aromas all beautifully intertwined. The palate is very well-balanced with sharp acidity that slices through the intense citric fruit. There is wonderful precision and sense of symmetry on the finish that possesses great tension and length. Just down the road from Chateau de Fuisse is another of the village’s finest exponents: Domaine Robert-Denogent. Here I met Jean-Jacques Robert. In 1988 he quit a career inlaw to take charge of his family’s vineyards in Fuisse and Solutre-Pouilly and commenced bottling the wines himself rather than selling it to local co-operatives. Accompanying him was son Nicolas who joined in 2007 (not forgetting their canine companion holding court at the entrance). Father and son farm a total of 8.5 hectares, with 5.5 hectares in Pouilly-Fuisse including single vineyard bottling. There is minimal intervention out in the vineyard with complete eschewing of inorganic treatments, the harvest always by hand and fermentation natural. In the winery, which an estate agent might euphemistically describe as “cosy,” the wines are all treated more or less equally, matured in 228-liter oak barrels with only one racking just prior to bottling. What makes this domaine different is the length of elevage, often up to 18 to 24 months depending on the vintage, an unusually long duration for Macon. Let me cut to the chase...finally. These are some of the finest you will find in the region: exemplary, terroir-driven, soulful expressions of Chardonnay that were mostly an absolute pleasure to taste. Importer: Kermit Lynch ; Bibendum, UK