Domaine Thibert Pouilly-Vinzelles ‘Les Longeays’ 2018

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Deep dive into the Mâcon in the Wine Bites Magazine Article “Getting Your Head Around Burgundy Part 12 – The Villages of the Mâcconais”.

About Domaine Thibert

This Thibert family of wine-growers have been living at the heart of the Fuissé village since 1668. They started out with a mere 1.6 hectares and have grown over the past 350 years to 22 hectares, all planted to Chardonnay, in and around Fuissé. This is an exciting Estate producing complex and exhilarating wines.

After a 10-year application process, the French National Institute of Origin and Quality (INAO) approved the classification making Pouilly-Fuissé the first appellation within Burgundy’s Mâconnais sub-region to benefit from premier cru vineyards.

The 22 new premier crus represent a total of 194ha under vine, accounting for roughly 24% of Pouilly-Fuissé’s total vineyard area (800ha). The newly-classified vineyards are spread over four communes of the appellation that only produce white wine from Chardonnay: Chaintré, Fuissé, Solutré-Pouilly and Vergisson. The new status begins with the 2020 vintage.

Fuissé is nestled in a natural amphitheatre, with a forest at its South. There is a light slope in the Northern part of the village, where the Romanin runs. The village is terraced from West to East by the wines’ hillsides.

Fuissé is known for its 19th century great neo-gothic Church. Fuissé is, together with the hamlet of Pouilly, at the roots of the appellation. The Chardonnay variety, that was spelt “Chardenet” back then, was growing on Pouilly’s hillsides as early as the 18th century.

“Attention to detail at every stage is the mantra here: and from impeccably farmed vineyards to a meticulously maintained winery, that it is practiced as well as preached is easy to see … Precise and incisive, these are pure and elegant Mâconnais wines endowed with serious concentration and structure, and I found a great deal to admire—not least the fact that the Thiberts are only now releasing their superb 2017 vintage. This is clearly one of the region’s leading domaines today, and I look forward to reporting on future vintages in these pages.”

William Kelly, TWA

In the Vineyard

The family have farmed organically since 1998, they short-prune for low yields The viticulture is fastidious and organic.

In the Winery

In the cellar, élevage is long but barrels are sparingly employed—complemented by stainless steel and glass—but when they are, they’re carefully chosen from Tonnellerie François Frères and replaced after just a few years.

Stylistically the wines are beautifully concentrated, rich and layered with flavor yet fine, taut and complex and deliver terrific expression of place.

It is the aim of the Domaine to keep alcohol levels at a moderate 13% as Christophe wants to maintain typicity, elegance and freshness.

The 2018 Vintage at Domaine Thibert

The always thoughtful Christophe Thibert told me that 2018 is “a bit atypical but no less attractive for it. The growing season was very hot and dry and because the weather forecast was for clement conditions, I decided to pick early but slowly as some of my parcels are precocious and others ripen later. We began on the 21st of August and picked until the 8th of September. Initially it was so hot that we picked only in the morning but as temperatures began to cool, we were able to harvest all day long. The fruit was largely spotless and required very little sorting, and in some cases none at all plus the yields were comfortable without actually being high. I first thought that the 2018s might resemble the growing season in that they might go through the élevage process quickly but in fact it has been the opposite. This is a vintage that clearly needs a longer élevage process and for the first time in a while, I will bottle nothing before the next harvest and some might not be bottled until 2020.” Thibert noted that one important change that he made for the 2018 vintage was to materially reduce the amount of wood influence just as he had done for the 2017 vintage.

Allen Meadows, Burghound

Where in the World is Domaine Thibert?

Domaine Thibert is based in the Village of Fuissé, one of four villages that are part of the Pouilly-Fuissé appellation in the Mâcon region of Burgundy.

In a demonstration of just how good the wines of Mâcon are, after a 10-year application process, the French National Institute of Origin and Quality (INAO) approved the classification making Pouilly-Fuissé the first appellation within Burgundy’s Mâconnais sub-region to benefit from premier cru vineyards.

The 22 new premier crus represent a total of 194ha under vine, accounting for roughly 24% of Pouilly-Fuissé’s total vineyard area (800ha). The newly-classified vineyards are spread over four communes of the appellation that only produce white wine from Chardonnay: Chaintré, Fuissé, Solutré-Pouilly and Vergisson. The new status begins with the 2020 vintage.

It is the first time since 1943 that a premier cru level is newly recognised in a Burgundian appellation.

There are undoubtedly other sites worthy of Premier Cru status, Viré-Clessé will surely push for their best sites to be upgraded too!

Pouilly-Fuissé including new Premier Cru’s