($60):  There is no better producer in the Mâconnais than La Soufrandière, a family domaine owned by the Bret Brothers.  The brothers also buy grapes from neighbors and other growers who have the same meticulous philosophy as they and bottle them as a négociant under the label, Bret Brothers.  Those wines are also a safe bet a well, delivering more than you would expect from the price.  This Pouilly-Vinzelles could be considered their flagship.  Planted by their grandparents, it is a 10-acre limestone rich plot with perfect exposure in mid-slope facing east.  Jean-Philippe explains that most of the vines are 70 years old, but there are some young vines — only 40 years old!   The spectacular 2022 Pouilly-Vinzelles Les Quarts delivers a dazzling array of subtle fruitiness, firm minerality in a tightly wound body.  You realize its stature and power when it explodes in the finish.  We’re forced to put numbers as a rating.  In my private notes it gets “WB” which stands for “would buy.”  Sixty bucks for a Pouilly-Vinzelles, you ask?  No, I say $60 for a fabulous wine that delivers far more than its price suggests.   Last fall in Paris, I still remember the awe at the table as we had our first sip of the 2014.  La Soufrandière’s wines develop magnificently — if you can keep the corkscrew away from them.
96 Michael Apstein Apr 9, 2024