Pascal Jolivet Pouilly Fume Les Terres Blanches 2017
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Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The Terres Blanches is a wonderfully pure Sauvignon Blanc with a driving minerality along with grass, and citrus.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A pure, piercing style, with slightly high-pitched thyme and honeysuckle notes leading the way, followed by lemon pith, white peach and gooseberry flavors. Delivers mouthwatering minerality on the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The intensely golden-yellow colored 2017 Pouilly-Fumé Terres Blanches is deep yet fine and elegant on the nose that shows notes of rasped hazelnuts, fresh green herbs (coriander), lemon rind and finely milled stones with a hint of iodine. Intense and elegant, this is a full-bodied, fresh and fine Pouilly from calcareous soils, with a stimulating phenolic grip and mineral tension on the finish. The wine conquers the whole palate but doesn't numb your taste buds or nerves and leaves the palate with grapefruit bitters. Lovely. Tasted in January 2021.
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James Suckling
Aromas of dusty chalk and sliced apples follow through to a full body with round and juicy fruit. An intensely tangy finish.
Other Vintages
2014-
Suckling
James
The house of Pascal Jolivet is one of the youngest and most dynamic in the Loire Valley. Founded in 1985, this specialist in the wines of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume has very quickly gained a leading position with the Michelin-starred restaurants of France. Pascal owns an estate of more than 40 acres evenly divided between two appellations.
He believes strongly in letting nature make the wine as much as possible, and seeks to tame the more aggressive qualities of the Sauvignon Blanc variety. His wines show the benefits of stainless steel vatting with naturally occurring yeasts. They are fermented cool rather than cold and are left of their lees for four to six months, gaining subtle but complex aromas as a result.
The Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume both originate from the Jolivet estate. The Sancerre is a composite of the three soil types in the district: calcareous clay, limestone, and flint. It is more flowery and subtle than many of its type. Pouilly-Fume, from the opposite bank of the Loire, comes from a large diversity of glacial soils and is normally more austere and minerally.
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.
Famous in the Loire and throughout the world for perfumed Sauvignon blanc, Pouilly-Fume sits due east, across the Loire River from Sancerre. Limestone soils with clay and flint (also called silex) contribute to the wines' freshness and often times smoky, flinty, mineral character.