2009 Maison Valette Pouilly-Fuissé Le Clos De Monsieur Noly

WINEMAKER: Philippe Valette
REGION: Burgundy, FR
VARIETAL: Chardonnay
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic 

"The Pouilly-Fuisse Clos de M. Noly Vieilles Vignes is an incredibly special wine that defies convention as it is elevaged in barrel for 12 years topped up four times a year. It's pure South facing vineyard again with 65 year old vines. It has a luminous yellow gold/amber colour and very complex nose of confit citrus, spices, cherries, and honeyed almonds - wonderfully complex. This is a massively expansive, beautifully balanced, and pure wine coats the senses. It is hugely complex, concentrated, and simply fascinating. A very rare treat ans one of the most memorable wines I have tasted ever, a sensual marvel !" - Andrew Guard

The domain was created in 1977, when Gérard Valette was one of the first in the area to leave the local cooperative and start bottling his own wine. After completing wine training, son Philippe joined in 1990 and then decided to convert the family's vineyards to organic farming, using biodynamic methods since 1992. The Valette's are known for their specific style, wines raised with thorough lees-contact and without racking. They have remained true to this style of winemaking since the 1950s. It is a sort of family-tradition that requires accuracy as well as painstaking detail knowledge of the indigenous yeasts and the wine’s proneness to develop reductive flavors. Again, an art.