Chateau des Rontets Pouilly-Fuisse "Les Birbettes" 2018 dry white (3 bottles)

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Château des Rontets Pouilly-Fuissé "Les Birbettes" 2018 dry white wine

RVF Guide to the Best Wines of France 2021 (nov.2020) : 93/100. The 2018 series shows a good level. Les Birbettes is still under the influence of a light oak, it is ripe and fleshy, it will gain amplitude and settle with time. Fresh and mineral, racy, it finishes on bright chalk and has good persistence. A great wine for aging. 

Technical sheet written by the domaine:

"The ladies of the guest tables have adopted three words to describe aging: at fifty-five years, it is a birbon; at sixty years, it is a birbe; past this fatal deadline, it is a birbette." (Léo Lespès, 1815-1875).

The vineyard : Indeed, the very old vines of the Clos, which are the source of the cuvée of Pouilly-Fuissé Les Birbettes, have all well surpassed sixty years. It consists of one hectare distributed over four plots: two of them were planted in the 1920s, just after the phylloxera epidemic, and the other two at the end of the Second World War, in 1945. The main characteristic of the old vines is their ability to implement a sort of "regulatory system" that limits the influence of climatic conditions and allows for consistent growth during the growing season. The vine can thus achieve the best grape ripeness. The clusters are always composed of small berries, and their potential remains remarkably consistent from year to year. The wine produced expresses more purity and verticality and is marked by a saline imprint, which is, in our opinion, the clearest manifestation of minerality.

Vinification: It is done in barrels of 228 and 400 liters, which are between one and six years old. The wine is racked before the next harvest and blended for an additional ten months of aging on fine lees in older barrels. A second racking and the final blending prepare for bottling, which is done without filtration or fining.

The wine: It is a cuvée that begins to express itself fully from the third year and becomes increasingly complex during its years of bottle aging. The fine vintages of Les Birbettes can age from 10 to 15 years or more.