2024 Domaine Pauline Pabiot "Le Coteau" Pouilly-Fume

I had the chance to visit Pauline Pabiot a few years ago at her property in Tracy-sur-Loire, one of the villages in the Pouilly-Fumé appellation. I'd already tasted the wines beforehand, so I pretty much knew we'd end up working together — but it was her charm and the direction she was taking the winery that really sealed the deal. Young and determined, she took over the estate from her grandfather, Roger Pabiot. She's now the fifth generation running the place, and she's converted it to organic farming, even keeping the old Chasselas vines around to make a tiny, very limited batch of Pouilly-sur-Loire. We wandered through her vines together, exploring the appellation. Back at the winery, she pulled out all these fossils that had turned up in the vineyards over the years — pretty cool stuff. The soils around Pouilly-Fumé are known for lots of silex (flint), but the "Coteau" is actually planted over sandy-clay and clay-limestone, which gives those wines a brighter, more lifted freshness. One of my tasting notes for the 2024 just said, "YUM!" And honestly, that about sums it up. It's packed with lemon verbena, fresh nectarine, and honeydew melon, with a light chalky minerality that balances the fruit and that signature refreshing acidity. It's just a really pleasing wine — full of all the charm I've come to expect from Pauline.