The 2018 Pouilly-Fuissé La Roche is back on form this year, exhibiting attractive aromas of citrus oil, preserved orange, green pear, oatmeal and white flowers. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, satiny and layered, with terrific cut and concentration, chalky dry extract and a long, mineral finish. Could this evolve along the lines of the formidable 1990? Drink 2020-2038.
This plot is located in Vergisson with a south-east exposure and with a soil rich in limestone. It is certainly one of the greatest vineyards of the Pouilly-Fuissé appellation. Jean-Marie Guffens believes this to be one of the most mineral and precise wines that he produces at Verget but also one of the richest. It is made only from free-run juice and was vinified entirely in barrels with 25% new oak. The fermentations ended at the end of November. The elevage then continued for a further 8 months in barrel. Ripe, buttered peaches and cream on the nose, with a lightly smoky note coming through in the background. The palate has good drive and tension, with zingy acidity lifting the riper stone fruits into tones of citrus. Richly textured yet clean and refreshing, this textural and mineral iteration of La Roche is long and refined on the spicy finish.
Generous wood and sulfur-tinged aromas serve as an inauspicious start to what is otherwise potentially a lovely wine. The notably denser medium-bodied flavors brim with plenty of sappy dry extract that imparts a real sense of volume to the vibrant, stony and lingering finish. This is a big and impressively intense P-F that should be reasonably approachable young but reward up to a decade of cellaring as well.
