Pouilly-Fuissé Le Clos Monopole 2018

Château-Fuissé

Pouilly-Fuissé Le Clos Monopole
2018

Country
France
Regulated designation
Appellation origine controlée (AOC)
Region
Burgundy
Subregion
Maconnais
Appellation
Pouilly-Fuissé
Varietal(s)
Chardonnay 100 %
Colour
White
Sugar
Dry
Producer's website

About this winery

The Château de Fuissé, built in the heart of its eponymous village in the 16th century, has belonged to the Vincent family for 5 generations. Claude Bulland acquired the estate in 1862 for the production of wine, then in 1922, Jacques Vincent-Bulland became one of the co-founders of the Pouilly-Fuissé appellation. Each generation has set its own milestone, which today ensures international recognition of the quality of Château Fuissé products. In 1948, it was Marcel Vincent's turn to...

See the Château-Fuissé detail page for more information on this brand

Product notes

"Le Clos" Château-Fuissé, monopole ( 2.7 ha ) est une parcelle mythique ceinturant le Château de Fuissé. La succession de ses strates argilo-calcaires lui confère sa particularité géologique. Cette parcelle exposée sud-est dont l'âge moyen des vignes dépasse les 50 ans, offre un vin d’une très belle complexité, le plaçant parmi les plus Grands de la Bourgogne.

Production notes

Le Clos is fermented in barrels and aged in cool cellars under the château for 12 months. 80% of the barrels are new. The wine is then transferred to a state-of-the-art winemaking facility for clarification and bottling. Quantities are limited to less than 500 cases per year.

Tasting notes

Persistent yellow color beginning with aromas of ripe apples, pears, spices with a touch of oak. It is a rich wine, with expressive aromas and extraordinary finesse. The finish is carried by the mineral with a firm and striking acidity. Pairings with scallops, sweetbreads and cheese.

Press reviews

Decanter

- 95 points -

January 2020 (Vintage 2018)

This monopoly holding just behind the château regularly produces one of southern Burgundy's best wines and has done it again in 2018. Pale in colour and very elegant, this comes from separate parcels planted between 1929 and 1981 and is a cuvée of 3 different terroirs. Spicy, chalky, refined and complex, it's floral, long and peppery, with effortless concentration and seamlessly integrated 80% new oak.

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Decanter World Wine Awards

- 95 points -

(Vintage 2020)

Ripe passionfruit and melon with a hint of coconut give this wine an exotic, tropical appeal on the nose. The oak is well-integrated and the texture is creamy and rich but not heavy, and there is enough acidity to carry all those rich aromas to a lovely, lingering finish.

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Vinous

- 94 points -

Neal Martin, June 2022 (Vintage 2020)

The 2020 Pouilly-Fuissé Le Clos 1er Cru which comes from the walled vineyard, the only officially-recognised Premier Cru monopole of 2.68ha, the vines eastfacing on three soils - clay at the bottom, marl in the middle and limestone at the top. It was picked on 30 August. The nose is quite reticent at first, so leaving the wine in my glass for 10 minutes, it really opens and shows its complexity thanks to the mélange of soils, honeysuckle and dried honey, lime and faint hints of liquorice. The palate is very well balanced with good depth, real weight and presence here, texturally-satisfying with impressive persistence on the finish. Excellent, but wise owls will cellar this for several years before broaching

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Wine Advocate

- 93 points -

William Kelley, August 2018 (Vintage 2016)

Aromas of Meyer lemon, orange blossom, delicately musky peach, honeycomb and wheat toast introduce the 2016 Pouilly-Fuissé Le Clos, a full-bodied, multidimensional wine with terrific depth and concentration at the core, balanced by succulent acids and concluding with a long, perfumed finish. It's similar in scale to the Brûlées, but it's simultaneously more intense and more controlled; it's also the most elegant of the Château Fuissé's wines.

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Burghound.com

- 93 points -

Allen Meadows, October 2021 (Vintage 2019)

Elegant, cool and mildly exotic aromas speak of discreet but not imperceptible wood, lemon zest, spice and plenty of floral elements. The racy, intense and beautifully well-delineated flavors possess good minerality and detail as well as very good power on the overtly saline-inflected and impressively persistent finish where the wood telegraphed by the nose reemerges. Definitely one to consider.

Outstanding

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Burghound.com

- 92 points -

Allen Meadows, October 2020 (Vintage 2018)

A touch of reduction knocks down the expressiveness of the ripe nose that is composed by softly exotic notes of white peach, floral and mineral reduction that are trimmed in noticeable wood. There is evident power and impressive richness to the full-bodied and palate coating big-bodied flavors that deliver excellent length on the sappy and slightly warm finish. This typically ages very well and should age in 2018.

OUSTANDING

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Wine Spectator

- 92 points -

January 2021 (Vintage 2019)

An oaky style, featuring smoky vanilla, clove and resin notes underscored by candied lemon. Bracing acidity ties it all together, and the long finish extends the spice elements. Flamboyant and impressive. Drink now through 2025.

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Burghound.com

- 91 points -

Allen Meadows, October 2018 (Vintage 2016)

Less evident wood can be found on the petrol, pear, apple and acacia blossom aromas that are trimmed in hints of exotic fruit and citrus rind. The succulent, dense and sappy middle weight plus flavors exude a fine bead of minerality on the precise and admirably long finish. Good stuff

Outstanding

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Jancis Robinson

17/20

Tim Jackson, January 2020 (Vintage 2018)

Almond cream, ripe lemon rind, stones and bay leaf. Rich, ripe lemon and stone fruit, with spice, stones and nut. A classy Pouilly.

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La Revue des Vins de France

16,5/20

January 2021 (Vintage 2018)

La vieille vigne du Clos dévoile un profil élégant, mûr et frais avec un boisé blond qui épaule le vin, aux senteurs de crème brûlée. La bouche réglisse par son élevage, restant fraîche, concentrée et d’une grande longueur.

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