Cordier "Les Menetrieres" Pouilly Fuisse 1er Cru 2020

The region of Pouilly-Fuissé established 22 Premier Cru sites in 2020. Before the 20th Century. Pouilly-Fuissé was considered one of the top three locations for Chardonnay with Meursault and Montrachet. Les Ménétrières is Cordier’s top climat from the nine different bottlings of 1er Cru wines produced.    

Complex layers and aromas of Meyer lemon, nectarine, and orchard fruits balance perfectly with a vibrant minerality. The weight on the pallet is dense but fresh with delicate oak and citrus cream notes. The finish is orchestral, a symphony of flavors and textures that blend seamlessly into perfection. The “Batard-Montrachet of the South.”

A full bodied white, great with creamy sauces, mushrooms, salmon, all seafood, white meats, hard rich cheeses like Manchego, or even a delicate cut of beef or lamb loin on a hot day.  

 The tiny parcels are vinified separately, with whole clusters in a small pneumatic press. The must is moved to neutral, open-top wooden vats by gravity and fermented with the native yeast. 

Depending on the vintage, an average of 12-16 months in 350-liter barrels (20% new it bountiful vintages) on the lees with limited batonnage. At the end, the wine is racked only once, and allowed to rest in steel tank for 4 months and naturally settled before bottling.  Limited racking maintains the structure of the wine. 

FINING & FILTERING: Bottled directly from the lees with no fining, and very light filtering, bottled by gravity. Vegan. 

Organic, with Demeter biodynamic certification pending final inspection, December 2023. Christophe makes the biodynamic sprays himself with trapped rainwater. Without tractors, they use horses and a motorized tiller for vineyard work to limit soil impact. Biodynamic herbal treatments are applied to the estate vineyards and half are sprayed by hand using a copper backpack. Minimal soil disturbance with absolute preservation for the biodiversity above and below the soil. 

LAND: Less than 1 hectare from 2 parcels between 900-1100 ft. in elevation with an east facing slope of dense fossiliferous limestone and clay soils.

VINE: Old vines in short guyot with 5 buds, trained in an arc to help delay budding (en arcure), Plowed by horse and without cutting the terminal bud at the tip of the shoot, this stem is braided into the canopy allowing the plant to better maintain its resources. The meticulous pruning, de-budding, and manual thinning of the leaves is very labor intensive. 

HARVEST AND PRODUCTION: Hand-harvested; less than 400 cases produced.