2016 Pouilly Fuisse en Bulland Vieilles Vignes
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Tasting notes
As is often the case, the 2016 Pouilly-Fuissé En Buland Vieilles Vignes is the greatest wine in Barraud's cellar—and one of the wines of the vintage in the Mâconnais. Wafting from the glass with a classy bouquet of citrus oil, white flowers, iodine and smoke, it's full-bodied, pure and tensile, with a satiny attack, amazing depth and dimension, concluding with a long, racy finish. This is a stunning Pouilly-Fuissé produced from the domaine's oldest vines in a north-facing lieu-dit. Its quality makes a mockery of the appellation's new premiers crus, as at the time of writing, En Buland is denied the classification by virtue of the very exposition that gives it such an advantage in the Mâconnais's generous climate. Let's hope that the INAO remedy that error.
Critic scores
Average Score
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Ripe stone-fruit aromas, rich and full on the palate. No significant oak influence allows the fruit to shine. Rich, full structure. (RH)
(these vines at about 350 meters face northeast, but the Barrauds have never chaptalized this wine; production here is routinely between 40 and 45 hectoliters per hectare): Pale, bright yellow. Cooler on the nose than the Sûr La Roche, offering precise, vibrant aromas of crystallized lemon peel, menthol, minerals and white pepper. Densely packed, concentrated and fine-grained; less showy than the Sûr La Roche but offers an old-vines creaminess of texture. Wonderfully sappy, dense wine with real energy and salinity. Julien Barraud noted that En Buland features soil similar to that of Les Crays, which is slated to be elevated to premier cru status when the new classification is finalized. The very long finish features adamant stony minerality. A complete wine with all the elements for a graceful evolution in bottle, but it will also be drinkable early. (Incidentally, as the Barrauds harvested barely ten hectoliters per hectare from their old vines in Les Chataigniers, they put this juice into their Cuvée Alliance.)