Domaine Gilles Noblet Pouilly-Fuissé 2019

Although one can always count on Gilles Noblet to fashion more than a fair share of the Mâconnais’ finest wines, the young 2019 Domaine Gilles Noblet Pouilly-Fuissé comes across as truly stunning. It is richer and more structured than normal due a warm summer, and it may prove to be the finest Gilles Noblet Pouilly-Fuissé we have tasted in the quarter of a century we have been visiting the property. The 2019 Domaine Gilles Noblet Pouilly-Fuissé bears the estate’s brilliant pale golden sun-splashed color and offers the beguiling aroma we have come to expect, with scents acacia blossoms, freshly picked mountain apples, and Bosc pears suffused with subtle hints of exotic spices that delight the nose. In the mouth, the wine offers a delicious combination of pure Chardonnay fruit infused with a hint of creamy butter and lemon curd, reminding some of us of the great wines of nearby Chassagne-Montrachet. What's more, the 2019 Domaine Gilles Noblet Pouilly-Fuissé exhibits subtle complexity, exceptional balance, and a beautiful texture without losing the refreshing minerality and pinpoint precision we have come to expect from the finest Pouilly-Fuissé. The 2019 Gilles Noblet Pouilly-Fuissé is Pouilly-Fuissé at its best, and many would say Chardonnay at its best. As a noble white Burgundy, we suggest providing Noblet’s 2019 Pouilly-Fuissé only a moderate chill (40°-45° F), before allowing it to evolve slowly in the glass. Anticipated maturity: 2021-2025. Salut!

Domaine Gilles Noblet’s outstanding 2019 Pouilly-Fuissé serves as a perfect foil to all kinds of seafood, poultry, soups, and salads. Scallops, sautéed in a light cream sauce with pistachio nuts; Coquille St. Jacques; and steamed Alaskan king crab legs dipped in drawn butter all provide tasty accompaniments to this wine. Blue Fin Crab cocktail offers another memorable pairing with Noblet’s, elegant, flavorful Pouilly-Fuissé. Flounder, grouper, or halibut stuffed with crabmeat, makes a wonderful pairing, too. In addition, baked or grilled sole, grouper, and sea bass offer other fine choices with this Pouilly-Fuissé. And for those not beholden to the sea for sustenance, light creamy pastas and healthy garden salads topped with grilled chicken offer other excellent accompaniments to Domaine Noblet’s beautiful Pouilly-Fuissé. Potato Leek Soup and Lobster Bisque provide tasty complements to a glass of Gilles Noblet’s Pouilly- Fuissé, too. Soft creamy cheeses such as Bûcheron, Edam, and Port Salut provide excellent, easy to prepare accompaniments to this wine as well. And, for our money, any Domaine Gilles Noblet Pouilly-Fuissé provides considerable drinking pleasure as an apéritif extraordinaire – an ideal way to begin a special evening or provide the means to wash away the weather-stained cares of life, without worrying about what food to pair with the wine. Truly, a wine meant to be enjoyed with or without a morsel! Enjoy!

Gilles Noblet has for more than a quarter of a century proven to be one of the brightest stars in Pouilly-Fuissé as he consistently fashions several 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 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.