Domaine Gilles Noblet Pouilly-Fuissé 2015

Gilles Noblet fashions incomparable Pouilly-Fuissé year in and year out, and yet another stellar vintage for white Burgundy has yielded the exceptional 2015 Domaine Gilles Noblet Pouilly-Fuissé. Noblet himself has stated: "The 2015 Mâcon wines are the finest I have produced in 37 years.” This is high praise from a consummate winemaker not given to brash statements or hyperbole. Given the vintage’s shy yield and Noblet’s strict selection and insistence on quality over quantity, the 2015 Domaine Gilles Noblet Pouilly-Fuissé offers greater concentration than usual, yet the same bright sun-kissed robe and amplifying aromatics that one has come to expect in Gilles Noblet’s Pouilly-Fuissé. An intriguing cornucopia of acacia blossoms, mountain apples, and soft mineral tones delight the olfactory. What's more, the 2015 Domaine Gilles Noblet Pouilly-Fuissé exhibits an elegant, seductive mid-palate rich in fruit and mineral that expands with each sip. Ripe fleshy fruit, pinpoint minerality, and a delightfully racy finish balanced by just the right amount of acidity to match the fruit, render the 2015 Domaine Gilles Noblet Pouilly-Fuissé a clear standout. As a noble white Burgundy, we suggest giving Noblet’s 2015 Pouilly-Fuissé only a moderate chill (40° F), before allowing it to evolve slowly in the glass. Enjoy this wine now and over the next several years. Salut!

Gilles Noblet continues to fashion some of the Mâcon’s finest and most enjoyable white wines from old vines in Pouilly-Fuissé, St. Véran, and neighboring southern Burgundy appellations. Noblet’s domaine, known presently as Domaine Gilles Noblet, Maison Gilles Noblet and Domaine de la Collonge (the latter because of the domaine’s vineyard location), is a small family owned and run property of just 22 acres. Gilles is the fourth generation member of his family to make wine at this prized property, where sustainable agriculture and non-interventionist practices prevail. No artificial fertilizers or insecticides are employed, and only natural yeast is used in fermentation. Moreover, the age of the vines at Domaine Gilles Noblet averages more than forty years, with many vines much older than that. Noblet’s old vines and reduced yields result in white wines that are both generous and concentrated.

Noblet’s estate name, Domaine de la Collonge, derives from the sector or area (known as an aire) of the Fuissé commune that is called Collonge. Most of Gilles Noblet’s estate is spread along the hills of la Collonge, which yield on average only a little more than six thousand cases of Pouilly-Fuissé each year. In addition to superb Pouilly-Fuissé, Monsieur Noblet fashions, to considerable critical acclaim, tiny quantities of exceptional St. Véran, Mâcon-Fuissé, and Pouilly-Loché from the other highly-prized appellations in the Mâcon crown.

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 region 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 wine of this renowned commune is 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.