Pouilly Fuisse Premier Jus des Croux, Domaine Guffens-Heynen 2017

Somewhat reminiscent in its overall balance and style of Guffens's extraordinary 2002 Petit Croux, the 2017 Pouilly-Fuissé Premiers Jus des Croux unwinds in the glass with aromas of pear, waxy citrus, toasted hazelnuts, freshly baked bread, beeswax and smoky reduction. Full-bodied, satiny and seamless, it's deep and layered, marrying huge depth with unerring precision, concluding with a long, palate-staining finish. Readers lucky enough to own both will have a fun time comparing the 2017 with its 2016 counterpart: the two are very close in quality, but the 2017 is somewhat more suave and demonstrative.

Depth of fruit on the nose the palate has pineapple and peach a rich mix of ripe fruits. There is an underlying streak of freshness cut apple and flint balance and complexity. The finish is long lean mineral. 2019-25

There is a bit more wood influence evident on the cool, pure and elegant aromas of green apple, pear, lemon zest and acacia blossom. The attractively sleek and beautifully well-detailed flavors also exude an appealing bead of minerality on the chiseled, citrus and quinine-inflected finish. This is really very good and a wine that should also reward mid-term cellaring out to a decade.

Guffens produced three barrels of the 2017 Pouilly-Fuissé Premiers Jus des Croux, and as I wrote last year, it is a monument in the making. Unwinding in the glass with a youthfully reserved bouquet of fresh pear, white peach and praline, it's full-bodied, deep and immensely concentrated, with all the chalky dry extract and phenolic presence of a red wine, displaying an incredibly multidimensional mid-palate that's underpinned by ripe acids, and concluding with a long, searingly intense finish. Powerful and ineffably complete, readers lucky enough to secure a bottle should plan to forget it for a decade.

Likely the wine of the vintage in the Mâconnais, the 2017 Pouilly-Fuissé Premiers Jus des Croux is a monument in the making, unfurling with a classy bouquet of hazelnut cream, green orchard fruit and ripe citrus. On the palate, it's full-bodied, multidimensional and strutted, with incredible depth, concentration and quasi-tannic presence. The finish is long and penetrating. I can't wait to try this again.