94 Points, William Kelley: The 2024 Pouilly-Fuissé Les Combes Vieilles Vignes is the king of the cellar chez Verget this year, and a wine that really transcends the vintage. Offering up notes of white flowers, peach, toasted nuts and spices, framed by a classy touch of reduction, it's medium- to full-bodied, deep and complete, with a multidimensional mid-palate and a long, penetrating finish. As is often the case, this parcel was picked in three successive passages (or "tris"), an approach normally reserved for the wines of Domaine Guffens-Heynen. Drink Date 2025-2040
The 2024 Verget "Aux Combes" Vieilles Vignes is, by all accounts, the wine of the cellar at Verget this vintage — sourced from 80-year-old vines. Jean-Marie Guffens founded Verget in 1990 after he couldn't afford to buy vineyards in the great appellations, and instead decided to source and vinify the best fruit he could find from Pouilly-Fuissé — a négociant project built on the radical idea that great wine starts in the vineyard, not the cellar, and that a brilliant Mâconnais Chardonnay can belong in the same conversation as Meursault or Puligny. Fun fact: 2024 produced the smallest harvest ever for this parcel — yields of just 20 hl/ha — which is exactly why the wine transcends the vintage. Pair with butter-poached lobster, roasted monkfish, or simply open it and pay attention.
