Pouilly-Fumé AOP is in the eastern Loire Valley, just across the Loire River and to the east of Sancerre.

This region is known now for its white Sauvignon Blanc wines that have characteristically pungent aromas and flavours of gooseberry and flint, but originally the most widely-used grape used to be Chasselas.

The current owners are Comte Henri D’Assay and his two sisters, descendants of Scotsmen (the Stutt family – which became ‘d’Estutt over time) who came to the region in the mid 1500s to fight for King Charles VII in the Hundred Years War.  One of the Stutts married the Lady of Tracy in the late 1500s and the rest is viticultural history.

These Sauvignon Blanc grapes are grown in a combination of Kimmeridgian chalk and Portlandian clay and the pale lemon wine is youthful and dry with medium body, medium acidity and aromas and flavours of freshly mown hay, green alfalfa, asparagus, spiced pear, gooseberry and pansies, yes pansies.

There’s a clean minerality that pervades along with that characteristic smoky gunflint ending with a medium length finish.

WSET Good plus.  Enjoy with salads, cold salmon, asparagus and summer.