Janots Bos Pouilly Fuisse 2020

Chardonnay from the Trémis vineyard beneath the Roche de Vergisson, one of the limestone crags that tower over Pouilly-Fuissé. The nose is rich and exotic — mango, apricot and tangerine — cut with a salty, flinty character, while the palate carries a lovely buttery note with real liveliness and freshness, finishing on striking minerality. Made by a small Meursault-based domaine whose wines are built to age, held in barrel before bottling rather than rushed out.

The Pouilly-Fuissé hills are fossil-bearing limestone with pockets of clay over granite bedrock. That base gives the Trémis parcel its flinty edge.

The 2020 season was a hot one. Burgundy saw days above 40 degrees and drought, though a wet winter had filled the soils first. Picking ran from 21 August to 9 September. Yields fell by 10 to 30 percent, but the fruit reached full ripeness with slightly softer acidity than usual. Janots and Bos noted clear grapefruit in the Pouilly-Fuissé that year. The wine went into lightly toasted Allier and Vosges barrels, with little new oak.

Thierry Janots and Richard Bos met at wine school in Beaune in 1996. Their Danish importer finds orange, mint and grapefruit with a refreshing bitter twist. Drink it now with roast chicken or scallops, or cellar it for several years.