2015 Pouilly-Vinzelles Les Longeays La Soufrandière

(14% alcohol; aged for 11 months in barrels, then another 6 months in tank; bottled without filtration, like the late 2015 releases under the Bret Brothers label; 50 hectoliters per hectare were produced from east- facing 35-year-old vines on orange-red clay soil that's deeper than that of Les Quarts): Bright yellow. Tangy scents of honeyed orange zest and apricot. Very suave, unctuous, highly concentrated wine with a slightly sweet impression (actually, just 3.5 g/l r.s.) tempered by acidity. This wine will age on its intensity and extract. Jean- Philippe Bret told me that this fruit was picked on Friday, August 28 and that "it would have been dead" if the brothers had waited until the following Monday. Drink: 2017 - 2024. -- Stephen Tanzer