Pouilly Fuisse Premiers Jus des Premiers Crus, Domaine Guffens-Heynen 2020

The 2020 Pouilly-Fuissé 1er Cru Premiers Jus des Premiers Crus is a wine of striking purity, texture and dimension. Unfurling in the glass with aromas of crisp Anjou pear and citrus zest mingled with notions of beeswax, freshly baked bread, wheat toast and light reduction, it's full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a layered, multidimensional core, racy acids and a long, resonant finish. As I recounted last year, as I tasted this wine from barrel, Guffens explained that "this is a blend of two-thirds La Roche, where the soils contain too much active calcium, and one-third Les Crays, where they contain too much red clay; together," he joked, "they make our answer to Montrachet." The only challenge in the 2020 vintage will be finding a Montrachet that's as good.

"This is a blend of two-thirds La Roche, where the soils contain too much active calcium, and one-third Les Crays, where they contain too much red clay: together," Guffens jokes, "they make our answer to Montrachet." That this is far from a vain boast is immediately apparent upon tasting the 2020 Pouilly-Fuissé 1er Cru Premiers Jus des Premiers Crus, which unfurls in the glass with scents of iodine, crisp green orchard fruit, freshly baked bread, white flowers, orange oil and wet stones. Full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, its textural attack segues into a strikingly incisive, tightly wound mid-palate that's girdled by racy acids and underpinned by chalky dry extract. Long and penetrating, it's searingly intense. In short, this will go down in the annals as one of the finest wines of Jean-Marie Guffens' storied career.