Pouilly Fuissé Les Combes VV, Verget 2018

The 2018 Pouilly-Fuissé Les Combes Vieilles Vignes was picked in three successive passes through the vineyard and vinified with the sort of attention to detail lavished on Guffens's domaine wines, so it's no surprise that this Maison Verget bottling wouldn't be too out of place in the Domaine Guffens-Heynen range. Wafting from the glass with scents of fresh peach, pear, white flowers and frangipane, it's full-bodied, satiny and enveloping, with a deep, multidimensional and complete palate that's intensely concentrated but avoids any excessive weight, concluding with a long, lip-smacking finish. Readers should make every effort to track down a few of the 7,500 bottles that were produced. Bravo to Jean-Marie Guffens and Julien Desplans!

More discreet wood influence remains in the background on the lemon rind and matchstick-scented nose. There is once again fine mid-palate density to the almost painfully intense, mouth coating and beautifully delineated medium weight flavors that exhibit excellent length on the lemon and equally dry finale. Worth checking out.