Verget Pouilly-Fuisse Tete de Cuvee, Burgundy, France

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The 1997 Pouilly-Fuisse Tete de Cuvee is produced in equal parts from fruit purchased in the villages of Fuisse and Vergisson, and aged in 30% new oak barrels, it offers aromas of white chocolate-covered pears. It is medium-to-full-bodied, packed with white fruits, flint, stones, and flower blossoms. Densely layered, fat, and profoundly ripe, this intense wine has enormous sweetness of fruit in addition to a long bone dry finish. My instincts suggest that it may become even better with cellaring. Anticipated maturity: now-2007+.A Peter Vezan Selection (Paris Fax # 011-33-1-42654293), importers include: North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel (510) 848-8910, and a Patrick Lesec Selection (Paris Fax # 011-33-1-42843822), various American importers, including Bacchus Importers (800) 525-9699.

Even better than the regular bottling, the Pouilly-Fuisse Tete De Cuvee's bouquet is reminiscent of a fresh bar of sweet butter embedded with minerals and oak spices. Medium-to-full-bodied and beautifully-balanced, this elegant, steely, and spicy wine is rich, complex, and possesses an extremely long finish. Projected maturity: 2000-2005.Both of Guffens' Pouilly-Fuisse's are first rate. How does he do it? He starts by reserving as much top-flight grapes as he can from growers. Then he vinifies the wine and sorts out cuvees he does not like, selling them to other negociants (last year Guffens sold 28,000 liters of Pouilly-Fuisse to other merchants, enough to make 37,300 bottles, or more than 3,100 cases).A year ago, Jean-Marie Guffens told me that 1996 was the greatest vintage of his lifetime. While he did not repeat that comment when I visited him in November, Guffens was bursting with pride as I tasted the wines.A Peter Vezan Selection (Paris Fax # 011-33-1-42654293), importers include: North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel (510) 848-8910, and a Patrick Lesec Selection (Paris Fax # 011-33-1-44706293), various American importers, including Bacchus Importers (800) 525-9699.