Pouilly Fuissé Vieilles Vignes 2012

"You might take a look at the price tag of this wine and ask, Well, why shouldnt I buy a bottle of Meursault if I need to shell out seventy bucks? My answer would be, Well, because this is a more complex and complete wine than the great majority of $70 bottlings of Meursault. J. J. Vincent is the top producer in Pouilly-Fuiss, which is in turn the top village in the entire Mcon area in southern Burgundy, and this killer wine was made from 30 to 70 year-old vines on the estate. The Chardonnay juice was then treated to extended ageing in small oak barrels, and the resulting wine is very generous but also impressively detailed and precise. The rich fruit is very nearly full-bodied and recalls golden apples and ripe peaches, but theres also a bright citrus fruit edge to the wine that prevents it from seeming heavy. Oak is notable but restrained, lending a subtle whiff of toast and a touch of tannin that provides welcome definition to the ample fruit flavors. This will certainly hold for another few years, but whereas Id age this wine when made from a taut vintage like 2008 or 2010, this 2012 is basically perfect right now. If you see the 2013 vintage as opposed to this 2012, snap it up--it is also delicious."

"Here the reduction is a bit more discreet on the lightly wooded nose so I would again advise decanting this first. The dense, powerful and serious medium weight flavors possess so much extract that there is an almost chewy quality to the toasty, long and citrus-inflected finish where the oak character resurfaces. This should be good in time as it has a good track record of successfully integrating its wood though at present it's borderline intrusive."

"The 2012 Pouilly Fuiss Vieilles Vignes, whose vines date back to 1929 in the vineyard of "Le Clos" and is blended with "Vignes Blanche" and "Perrires," was cropped at 20 hectoliters per hectare and vinified in new oak. It has a well-defined nose that assimilates with the new wood well (better than Le Clos) with scents of dried honey, quince, citrus peel, hazelnut and cumin. The palate is well-balanced with crisp tannins, the oak well-integrated with a gradual build to a powerful saline, quite spicy finish that lingers long after the wine has departed. Excellent."

"Round and full-bodied, the wine is dominated by wood-aging flavors. That masks the fruit at this stage, leaving the impression of a wine that is still to focus and bring out the impressive ripe fruits and mineral structure. Give it until 2017 to pull itself together."

"Here the wood is a bit more discreet though plainly obvious as it fights a bit with the notes of lemon blossom, white peach and apple aromas. The dense, powerful and serious medium weight flavors possess so much extract that there is an almost chewy quality to the toasty, long and citrus-inflected finish. This should be good in time as it has a good track record of successfully integrating its wood."