Domaine du Bouchot Pouilly-Fume Terres Blanches 2021
- Vinous
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James
Suckling
Product Details
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Winemaker Notes
From a variety of plots: Les Champs du Roin Haut et Bas, La Côte des Prés, Les Déserts, Le Domaine du Bouchot, Les Champs Frisés, Les Genièvres, Les Bascoins, and Les Champs de la Croix. Average age of the vines is 35-40 years.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2021 Terres Blanches is round and silky with a fine chalky texture that provides a fine, appetizing texture on the finish. It is satisfying with a delightful thread of acidity that keeps it together and your mouth watering. There's an appealing elderflower character with a subtle creamy background, likely due to malo and time on lees, but there's plenty of precision here. The finish is like a triangle - ting!
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James Suckling
Apple and fresh hay on the nose. Medium body with more citrusy and stony flavors and a touch of dry-mineral grip at the end. A tidy white with lots of mineral influence that gives a harder feel to it this year.
Other Vintages
2022-
James
Suckling
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James
Suckling
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Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling
A family Estate since 1966, in 2018, Antoine Gouffier purchased Domaine du Bouchot, located in Pouilly-sur-Loire, from his mentors, Rachel and Pascal Kerbiquet, embarking on a new beginning. His knowledge of the area is profound; his family, the Minets, own the neighboring vineyards.
In 2009 Bouchot was the first in the appellation to become certified organic, and Antoine has finalized the biodynamic certification. The wines will be labeled with the Demeter logo starting with the 2021 vintage. A 10-hectare property, it is mainly planted to Sauvignon Blanc, with a few vines of Chasselas, on the southwest side of the hill from the village of Saint Andelain. The wines reflect the unmistakable character of each of the vineyards: the Kimmeridgian marl soil is of white clay, limestone, fossilized oysters from ancient seabeds, and the Portlandian terroir (limestone with layered, small rocks) lend a flinty, mineral quality to the wines—the differentiating characteristics lending to a unique purity and clarity.
Antoine believes in minimal intervention in his winemaking, using indigenous yeast and stainless steel for fermentation. He is also experimenting with amphorae. The wines are vinified without sulfur. The Domaine produces 3 different Pouilly-Fumé: Cuvée Terres Blanches from the Kimmeridgian marl soils, Cuvée Les Caillotes from Portlandian soils, and Cuvée 1955 from the oldest vines on the estate. In addition, he produces a Pouilly-sur-Loire made from 100% Chasselas and one Vin de Pays called “Orange,” a 100% Sauvignon vinified on the skin during five months without SO2 and aged for one year in 2-years old barrels with 1g/L SO2.
Antoine's dedication and respect for terroir culminate in his representations of Sauvignon Blanc from Pouilly-Fumé. The resulting wines display a fruity, floral, and poignant minerality. As a young vigneron who has taken the reigns at the Domaine du Bouchot, his wines express a vibrant, elegant, balanced tension, and he is achieving new heights in the appellation.
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.