Château des Rontets Pouilly-Fuissé "Pierrefolle" dry white 2019

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Comments on this Château des Rontets Pouilly-Fuissé "Pierrefolle" dry white 2019:

RVF Guide to the Best Wines of France 2022 (November 2021): 92/100. A favorite in the green guide 2022. Pale gold. Pierrefolle unfolds quietly; it is a wine of good balance, still tight due to its concentration but fresh in aromas and flavors, with admirable depth and energy. Its oak aging adds a pleasant richness, and it often seems reserved, ready to blossom in the coming years. Don't rush; this is a wise purchase, a wine of great class.

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (William Kelley, Sept. 2022): 93/100. Textural and perfumed, the 2019 Pouilly-Fuissé Pierrefolle bursts with aromas of orange oil, white flowers, freshly baked bread, and almond paste. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and enveloping, it's glossy and seamless, with lively acids and an expansive finish. As usual, this cuvée, derived from granitic soils, is quite distinctive. Drink date 2022-2033.

Technical Sheet written by the domaine:

The vineyard: The Pouilly-Fuissé Pierrefolle wine comes from the only outer parcel of the Clos. Located just 500 meters to the south, its full east exposure and sheltered position from the northern wind make it a warmer site. This climate has older geological origins, predating the Jurassic: it is situated on granitic rock and soil devoid of clay and limestone. For this reason, when it was planted in the early 1970s, the Riparia rootstock was chosen, which has a low vigor and ensures a limited production of very high-quality grapes. All these characteristics give rise to wines that have a less pronounced acidic structure than those from the Clos.

The wine: While being wider and more generous, the cuvée Pierrefolle is still supported by a precise mineral expression, accompanied by aromatic notes of citrus. Furthermore, due to the high percentage of muscat chardonnay vines, it develops almost exotic accents in years of over-ripening.

The vinification: it takes place in recent barrels of 400 and 228 liters, without new wood. After a year on the lees, the wine is racked and blended in tank for an additional aging period of 6 to 10 months, allowing for natural clarification. It is then bottled without filtration or fining, and while it is accessible from the second year, it has a aging potential that easily exceeds 10 years.

The climate: The climate of Pierrefolle, which produces the cuvée of Pouilly-Fuissé of the same name, is located at the very top of the lieu-dit Vers Chânes.

The soil: Even though it is only 500 meters south of our Clos and practically at the same altitude, this half-hectare parcel has completely different characteristics, as it is already beyond the geological fault that separates sedimentary soils from those of the continental bedrock. Here the parent rock is thus granitic, the soil much deeper and composed exclusively of fairly coarse silts. Water drainage is slower, and soil work must be done differently to avoid compaction and erosion. The other major differences are the full east exposure and the sheltered position from the northern wind: this site is warmer than the Clos and has a less pronounced daily temperature range. While not systematically earlier, ripening occurs more quickly, and the acidity level present in the grapes is generally lower.


Excerpt from the parish register of Abbé Glaneur of Fuissé (1858):

The crazy stone. It was a wobbly stone located almost at the top of the Leynes mountain above the hamlet of Verchanes. It was called crazy because of its oscillating movement. The land where it was located, belonging [...] today to the domaine of Rontets, still retains the name Pierrefolle. This crazy stone indicates that druidic ceremonies took place on the territory of Fuissé. Debris still lies on the ground.