When it comes to savoring Loire Valley’s most classic and humbly priced wines, Francis Blanchet’s impeccable lineup of Pouilly-Fumé has consistently been our top performer—at this point, the second-place contender isn’t even visible! Given the number of cuvées and vintages we’ve offered over the years, one would think we’ve taken a minority stake in the domaine, or at the very least, featured every cuvée at one point. However, this marks the first time we’ve offered their “Vieilles Vignes” (old vines), and after tasting today’s garden-fresh 2020 we pointed fingers at each other, wondering who let this slip through the cracks all these years.
Coming entirely from a pure-flint parcel of 80+-year-old vines, we can hardly think of another wine that defines an entire region so emphatically: Its resplendent silver-yellow core, its bountiful layers of tropical/citrus fruit, and its blistering flint minerality speak so profoundly to Sauvignon Blanc as grown in Pouilly-Fumé. It’s also one of the cool moments in wine where you can nail the grape and place before tasting, except the urge to drink it will quickly overpower your curious nose. Grab what you can, while you can because available quantities keep diminishing with each passing year.
Francis has become fully aware that his boutique Pouilly-Fumé wines are highly sought-after commodities (his front door is imprinted by the knuckles of myriad importers), so you’d expect one of two outcomes: an increase in production or ramped-up prices. Most producers choose one and some get away with both, but Francis hasn’t done either and, as we’ve mentioned before, the quality of each new release seems to reach unprecedented levels. It’s a traditionally crafted, extremely affordable, must-have ‘collectible’ for anyone who admires terroir, purity, and the value of a dollar.
Francis Blanchet has an only-in-France pedigree: his extended family has been growing Sauvignon Blanc in Pouilly-Fumé since the 1700s and are said to still have the original deed for the purchase of the vineyards. Today, Francis still remains active, but his son Mathieu has joined the ranks, representing the eighth generation. Despite their history, the estate remains rather modest in size with less than 10 hectares. That’s it.
The fruit for today’s Vieilles Vignes is a meticulous selection of the estate’s oldest vines—no younger than 80 years—from a small, sloped, southeast-facing plot in the hamlet of Les Berthiers, about a mile from the Loire River. Here, the soils are dominated by flint, so to seamlessly transfer the terroir into the final product, they farm sustainably; harvest by hand; use ambient yeasts for fermentation; and raise the wine on lees in stainless steel tanks.
Blanchet’s 2020 requires little-to-no “prep work” to unlock its full potential: All you need to do is pull the cork, decant 10 minutes, and serve in all-purpose stems around 45 degrees. In the glass, it displays a highly reflective, straw-yellow core and after a couple of swirls, ripe and high-toned aromas fire out of the glass in the form of green mango, gooseberry, guava, fleshy white peach, crisp green apple, citrus pith, lime peel, struck flint, crushed white rock, and white flowers with an underlying whiff of herbaceousness. The vintage brings some viscosity and lushness to the palate but the wine ultimately ends with powerful swells of minerals and acidity. This is what Sauvignon Blanc and Pouilly-Fumé is all about. Although our personal stashes have never survived more than a year or so, we’ve been told these wines can sneakily age too—as in 5-10+ years. A win-win!
