Pouilly Fuisse ‘Ame’, Eric Forest

Eric Forest is a star vigneron, based in the village of Vergisson, and currently has 4.8 hectares of vines planted between 1930 and 1979. He has inherited a great knowledge of nature and biodynamics from his grandfather and this has been a major influence in his approach to viticulture and winemaking. All grapes are hand picked and fermented and matured for ten to fifteen months in barriques and demi-muids. The wines are hand bottled and are, usually, unfiltered.

The Pouilly Fuissé “L’Âme Forest” is a blend of two complementary, individual vineyards – “Les Tilliers” is planted on calcareous Sinemurian clay soils and ” La Côte” is on Toarcian marl-limestone soils, located on the northern slope of the Vergisson hill. A powerful, intense dry white wine, it has been aged in 300 litre oak barrels of which 20% were new. This gives a dimension to the finished wine, without an overt ‘oakiness’.

There are compex notes of lemon, white peach and pineapples hints on the nose. These flavours are evident on the creamy palate with a touch of hazelnut and vanilla oak. There is a lovely texture to the wine with the richness balanced by citrus acidity. Whilst intense, everything is in balance through to the end of the lingering finish. This is a most impressive white Burgundy, to enjoy now or keep a further 4 to 5 years.