Tasted with Fabio Gazeau-Montrasi in Hurigny, 04 November 2022
Château des Rontets
814 Les Rontes, 71960 Fuissé
Tel: +33 3 85 32 90 18
www.chateaurontets.com
More reports with Château des Rontets
Fabio on 2022 and 2021:
“We managed to produce our planned volume – for a change – this year. We came close to frost but just about avoided it. We had some juice in the grapes so it wasn’t too dry for the vines – so no complaints compared to 2021 when we were hit by the hail – I worried whether there would be some effect from that for 22s but we did okay. 18 hl/ha was our result from 2021 – so a bit more than a third – but not a lot more. 2019 brought hail, so minus 30% and 2020 was low – mid-30s hl/ha – so we have lost a vintage worth of volume in the 2019-2021 period – it’s a long time since we did a green harvest!”
The wines…
We only looked at the bottled wines – hence, mainly 2020s – plus the 2019 Birbettes – this latter wine is worth a special search but all the others are worth your time too!
Longer elevage here, so we looked at the 2020s:
2020 St.Amour Côte de Besset
Two parcels in the same area –– north-west of the AOC at over 400m of altitude for one and about 330 for the other on well draining soils. ‘Can suffer from the dry here – normally not more than 12.5° here – but it was 14° in 22!’
A small reduction here – but this nose seems aromatically nicely structured. Fluid, quite silky – very fine tannin – I love the combination of texture and fresh fluidity – That’s a super St.A!
Les whites:
2020 Pouilly-Fuissé Clos Varambon
All the vines around the house except the VV Birbettes. All but the oldest vines – so 15-60 years old. Bottled end of July this year. Less alcohol than the ‘larger’ 2019 wine.
A shy nose but with fine clarity of yellow citrus. Supple, generous, slowly melting over the palate but with a width of flavour that’s both complex and involving. I’d like to see a hint more structure to this but still a very good wine!
2020 Pouilly-Fuissé Pierre Folle
Here granitic soil, deeper soil, close to the house, next to the Clos – officially in Vers Chenes
A more vibrant nose – more mineral with a faint reductive quality too. Here there’s more structure and I find a little creaminess in these flavours. Broad and delicious finishing. I prefer the shape of this today – I think it is excellent!
Here with the limestone of the clos but the oldest vines too – 60-70 years old. In bottle for about 1 year. 14°
Broader, fresher, more clarity and energy to this more mineral-styled nose. Beautiful over the palate – fluid, cool-fruited, mouth-watering. Maybe wait a year or two – but a great cascade of finishing flavour is released by this wine – bravo!