Château Vitallis Pouilly-Fuissé Les Vignes du Château 2019

The juicy, mouthwatering 2019 Château Vitallis Pouilly-Fuissé Les Vignes du Château offers everything classic white Burgundy from the esteemed appellation of Pouilly-Fuissé has to offer. A brilliant sun-kissed robe begins the enchantment, but even better is this wine’s enticing bouquet of freshly picked mountain apples, acacia flowers, and freshly baked bread straight out of the oven. In the mouth, the 2019 Château Vitallis Pouilly-Fuissé exhibits a cashmere-like texture that beautifully complements the wine’s pure, natural fruit and bright acidity. Pinpoint precision and a racy refreshing minerality round out the wine’s palate appeal, which makes for a clean, satisfying finish. For optimal enjoyment, we suggest a moderate chill (40°-45° F) before serving, though many will prefer Dutron’s excellent Pouilly-Fuissé at a more ambient temperature, so as you like it. Anticipated maturity: 2021-2024. Enjoy!

The exceptionally pure and easy to drink 2019 Château Vitallis Pouilly-Fuissé provides the quintessential aperitif. It also provides the perfect foil to hors d’oeuvres, gourmet cheeses, poultry, and almost anything that once swam in the sea. Crab dips, grilled shrimp, sautéed scallops, and a perfectly roasted chicken constitute some of our favorite pairings with this Pouilly-Fuissé. Baked or grilled flounder, grouper, mahi-mahi, and sea bass offer other fine pairings with Denis Dutron’s 2019 Château Vitallis Pouilly-Fuissé. A thin crust white pizza with shitake mushrooms, Taleggio cheese, and black truffles also makes a superb companion to this wine. Light, creamy pastas and healthy garden salads topped with grilled chicken offer other excellent accompaniments to this beautiful Pouilly-Fuissé. Goat cheeses and soft cow’s milk cheeses such as Bûcheron, Edam, and Port Salut also provide excellent and easy to prepare accompaniments to Denis Dutron’s classic 2019 Château Vitallis Pouilly-Fuissé. Bon Appétit!

The Dutron family founded the present wine estate, Château Vitallis, in 1835. Château Vitallis is one of the few “large” estates in the picturesque wine country of southern Burgundy known as the Mâconnais. Although large by local standards, the estate cultivates a mere 26 acres of vines. Since 1981, Denis Dutron has been the guardian of this estate and runs it with expert care, farming organically, tending the property’s old vines, and using the vineyards’ natural indigenous yeasts for fermentation.

The estate is renowned for its old vines, many of which are in excess of 65 years of age, with the average age of vines between 35-40 years. The château’s vineyards are situated on the premier slopes of the region, all facing southeast at an altitude of up to 900 feet in the premier villages of Fuissé and Solutré. Just four still Mâconnais wines are entitled to bear the name Château Vitallis: Pouilly-Fuissé, Mâcon-Fuissé, Mâcon-Vinzelles and St. Véran – all Mâconnais classics made from 100% Chardonnay grapes.

Denis Dutron uses traditional Burgundian viticultural methods in the vineyards. He farms organically, employs natural ground cover, and uses sustainable methods of cultivation instead of chemical fertilizers and herbicides. In the cellar he uses stainless steel vats and employs temperature control to assure a long and cool fermentation, which results in beautiful fresh fruit aromas and flavors in each of his wines. Denis Dutron’s wines regularly garner medals in French wine competitions, including Gold Medals at the Paris Agricultural Fair (Concours Général Agricole de Paris) and the Mâcon Wine Fair, France’s two most prestigious wine competitions.

Pouilly-Fuissé is the premier appellation of southern Burgundy as well as one of Burgundy’s finest white wines. Pouilly-Fuissé is ideally located in the heart of the Mâconnais and is renowned for its massif limestone bluffs and chalky alkaline soil, which provide the ideal terroir for Chardonnay. This appellation comprises just four villages that stretch out over a series of steep hills, just to the north of the ten greatest villages of Beaujolais. All the wines of this renowned commune are white, emanating exclusively from Chardonnay vines.

In Pouilly-Fuissé, the tradition is to give fully ripened Chardonnay grapes a gentle press, so that the resulting wine expresses the ultimate quality of the grape, soil, and entire terroir, instead of sculpturing the wine with the extensive use of new oak. Consequently, most Pouilly-Fuissé wines still see little or no new oak barrel aging, so as not to obscure the delicacy, elegance, and subtle charm for which the wines of this prized commune are renowned.

Chardonnay is not only the most widely cultivated white varietal on the planet; it is also the most treasured. Twice each year at harvest time (because the seasons are reversed in the northern and southern hemispheres) in its native France and in countless locales on six continents, Chardonnay grapes command premium prices. In tribute, Chardonnay produces the finest, most flavorful dry white wines in the world to which writers and connoisseurs devote countless columns and untold hours exalting its virtues and dissecting its flavors. Whether it be from Chablis or the Mâconnais, Sonoma County or the Santa Lucia Highlands, or from the most illustrious of vineyards perched atop the slopes of Corton and Montrachet, Chardonnay is the yardstick by which all other dry white wines have come to be measured.

Chardonnay is a peerless match with many types of foods. Chablis and Chardonnays from the Mâconnais that see little or no oak provide superb complements to seafood, poultry and white meats such as veal and pork. Fuller, richer, and more heavily oaked renditions of Chardonnay, typified by the finest examples from California and France’s Côte d’Or, pair beautifully with more complex fare, such as rich cream sauces and goat and cow’s milk cheeses. Moreover, the finest Chardonnay wines shine on their own, requiring nothing but a clean glass to please the palate.