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2022 Pouilly-Fumé “Vieilles Vignes”
Régis MinetRégis Minet with successor Lucia Mineur-Billet
The team at Domaine Régis Minet
Régis Minet
For Americans, Pouilly-Fumé is probably most famous for inspiring Robert Mondavi to call his Sauvignon blanc Fumé Blanc. It is a lovely name. But as usual here at KLWM, we invite you to look back to what launched such a masterly marketing idea. Fumé means smoky, and Pouilly-sur-Loire is the neat little town on the banks of the Loire where the stony vineyard soil bestows upon the Sauvignon a smoky or gunflint aspect.
The Loire there is broad and quite shallow, full of islands and constantly shifting sandbars and channels. Motorboats were useless in that stretch of the river until our winemaker, motorcyclist Régis Minet, built himself a flat-bottomed craft with a barely submerged propeller. Only it and pole-propelled skiffs can navigate the Loire there. When I visit to taste each year, he insists on taking me for a ride, so to speak. We zoom along, scraping over the sandbars, veering sharply to avoid sunken tree trunks and wine buyers, ducking to avoid hanging vines and branches, while I act cool, smiling blissfully, hanging on with whitened knuckles and pounding heart, thinking that if I told you, my clients, that I was risking life and limb to get a decent Pouilly-Fumé into your glasses, you would not take me seriously.
What I find unusual and remarkable about Minet’s old-vines cuvée is its class. I know what today’s Sancerres and Pouilly-Fumés taste like. One will perhaps be more or less aromatic, another grassier, another lighter or heavier, higher or lower in acidity . . . But how many have the class and exquisite harmony of Minet’s? Everything is in balance, there are no rough or sharp edges, nothing to set your teeth gnashing in frustration. Don’t you just love class? This is just pure, delicious, classic, definitive Pouilly-Fumé.
** In 2021, Régis handed the reigns of the domaine to his stepdaughter, Lucia Mineur-Billet. Régis and Lucia are both ready and excited for this new chapter in the estate’s history! **
—Kermit Lynch
Wine Type: | white |
Vintage: | 2022 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Sauvignon Blanc |
Appellation: | Pouilly Fumé |
Country: | France |
Region: | Loire |
Producer: | Régis Minet |
Winemaker: | Régis Minet |
Vineyard: | 25 - 30 years, 10 ha |
Soil: | Clay, Marl, Kimmeridgian Limestone |
Aging: | Wine ages for 6 months on fine lees in stainless steel. Depending on the vintage, the lees are stirred two to three times during this time |
Farming: | Lutte Raisonnée |
Alcohol: | 12.5% |
More from this Producer or Region
2020 Sancerre “Hameau de Reigny”
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Simon refers to Hameau de Reigny as a “nature” wine. The result is textured and tropical-fruited, yet not so much a departure from the region’s typicity, as rather, a riff on it.
2022 Bourgueil “Franc de Pied”
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Serve it with a slight chill, and you’ll have a satisfyingly fresh red with medium fruit and a light dusting of herbs and tannin.
2021 Chinon “Les Petites Roches”
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2023 Anjou Rouge “Clos de la Cerisaie”
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It is a lively, brisk wine, showcasing pristine red fruit and a hint of herbs over a firm foundation of stony acidity.
2023 Pouilly-Fumé “Vieilles Vignes”
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Sauvignon Blanc has many incarnations throughout the world, but even in the Loire Valley—the grape’s spiritual home—Pouilly Fumé represents a very distinctive example.
2023 Bourgueil “Trinch!”
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Peppery and bright, earthy and juicy all at once.
2020 Saumur-Champigny “Les Mémoires”
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2018 Saumur Blanc “L’Échelier”
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This chiseled Chenin Blanc comes from 70-year-old vines planted on an ancient limestone slope. Burgundian-like in character from its time spent in barrel, the laser-like acidity will become even more enticing with some age.
2022 Sancerre “Racines”
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It combines the racy acidity and taut mineral structure imparted by the Kimmeridgian limestone terroir with a subtle kiss of oak and a fine wood grain on the finale.
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Dry Champagne-method sparkler that delivers tremendous value.
About The Producer
Régis Minet
About The Region
Loire
The defining feature of the Loire Valley, not surprisingly, is the Loire River. As the longest river in France, spanning more than 600 miles, this river connects seemingly disparate wine regions. Why else would Sancerre, with its Kimmeridgian limestone terroir be connected to Muscadet, an appellation that is 250 miles away?
Secondary in relevance to the historical, climatic, environmental, and cultural importance of the river are the wines and châteaux of the Jardin de la France. The kings and nobility of France built many hundreds of châteaux in the Loire but wine preceded the arrival of the noblesse and has since out-lived them as well.
Diversity abounds in the Loire. The aforementioned Kimmderidgian limestone of Sancerre is also found in Chablis. Chinon, Bourgueil, and Saumur boast the presence of tuffeau, a type of limestone unique to the Loire that has a yellowish tinge and a chalky texture. Savennières has schist, while Muscadet has volcanic, granite, and serpentinite based soils. In addition to geologic diversity, many, grape varieties are grown there too: Cabernet Franc, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Melon de Bourgogne are most prevalent, but (to name a few) Pinot Gris, Grolleau, Pinot Noir, Pineau d’Aunis, and Folle Blanche are also planted. These myriad of viticultural influences leads to the high quality production of every type of wine: red, white, rosé, sparkling, and dessert.
Like the Rhône and Provence, some of Kermit’s first imports came from the Loire, most notably the wines of Charles Joguet and Château d’Epiré—two producers who are featured in Kermit’s book Adventures on the Wine Route and with whom we still work today.
More from Loire or France
Vouvray Brut
Champalou France | Loire
2018 Saumur Blanc “L’Échelier”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2022 Sancerre Rouge
Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy France | Loire
2020 Saumur Champigny “Outre Terre”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2016 Chinon “Les Petites Roches” MAGNUM
Charles Joguet France | Loire
2023 Anjou Rouge “Clos de la Cerisaie”
Château d'Epiré France | Loire
2020 Vin de France Rouge Cabernet Franc “Huguette”
Grange Saint Sauveur France | Loire
2021 Chinon “Les Petites Roches”
Charles Joguet France | Loire
2023 Savennières
Château d’Epiré France | Loire
2022 Sancerre Rouge “Le Chant de l’Archet”
Daniel Chotard France | Loire
Touraine “Fines Bulles”
Domaine de la Chanteleuserie France | Loire
2020 Chinon “La Croix Boissée”
Bernard Baudry France | Loire
Vouvray Brut
Champalou France | Loire
2018 Saumur Blanc “L’Échelier”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2022 Sancerre Rouge
Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy France | Loire
2020 Saumur Champigny “Outre Terre”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2016 Chinon “Les Petites Roches” MAGNUM
Charles Joguet France | Loire
2023 Anjou Rouge “Clos de la Cerisaie”
Château d'Epiré France | Loire
2020 Vin de France Rouge Cabernet Franc “Huguette”
Grange Saint Sauveur France | Loire
2021 Chinon “Les Petites Roches”
Charles Joguet France | Loire
2023 Savennières
Château d’Epiré France | Loire
2022 Sancerre Rouge “Le Chant de l’Archet”
Daniel Chotard France | Loire
Touraine “Fines Bulles”
Domaine de la Chanteleuserie France | Loire
2020 Chinon “La Croix Boissée”
Bernard Baudry France | Loire
Where the newsletter started
Where the newsletter started
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch