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Château de Rontets

I first visited Château de Rontets around a decade ago and, like Domaine Barraud, have been remiss in not revisiting. I was determined to put that right on this year's trip. I tasted at winemaker Fabio Montrasi’s house, which is hidden away at the top of the hill with a panoramic view over Fuissé and over the Roc de Vergisson. The interior is so quaint, rustic in the most positive sense of that word. Montrasi has a small portfolio of three wines centered around the clos. “I started harvesting on September 13 and picked in three days. The 2021 vintage is quite a different vintage compared to the last six years," Montrasi tells me. "We have a long fermentation that usually lasts until the following spring, but in 2021, it was shorter.” Discussing the 2020 vintage, he tells me: “We have fresher nights here due to being located on top of the hill, which was important in hot vintages like that. We age on the lees in barrel, and when we rack we don’t stir, so that the fine lees remain suspended during the second part of the barrel maturation."

Château des Rontets’ wines have always embraced classicism, wine suffused with than intangible quantity of “soul”. Readers should certainly aim their “buying harpoon” towards the 2021 Pouilly-Fuissé Les Birbettes that delivers wondrous mineralité on the finish. I just have a question mark on the 2020 Pierrefolle at the moment.

From Moving On Up: Mâconnais 2021 & 2022 (Aug 2023) by Neal Martin

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2021 Pouilly-Fuissé Clos Varambon

Color: White

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