Jean Pabiot & Fils

Several elements distinguish Pabiot’s “Kiméride” cuvée from its classic flagship Pouilly-Fumé. It is a fuller-bodied and more opulent affair, released only in the best vintages, featuring old vines exclusively from the Kimmeridgian limestone plots in Pouilly-Fumé, without the classic gun-smoke minerality that their flinty silex plots would impart. While they also have an oak-aged example, the Kiméride is still crafted in stainless steel, rested on lees with bâtonnage for 6-9 months, and further textured by a partial skin-contact maceration that brings colour, grip, and weight to the palate, the most pronounced difference is felt in the fruit being picked at a riper stage, the racy Kimmeridgean marl’s acidity there to balance the added weight, the fairer vintages imparting a fuller body and more tropical expression to the wine.

It’s here we find a Gauguin-esque burst of mango. There are notes of ripe pineapple, heathery lees, wet stones, naval orange, baked grapefruit, meadow breeze, and a hint of birch. On the palate, the terrific acidity supports the added weight (13.5%), and the fruit profile has a bright green apple tang leading to a pineapple finish with some talcum-dusted (baby-powder?) like minerality. This is begging for some large pan-seared scallops with tarragon butter or just some terrific crab perfectly boiled and dipped in butter.

"The nose expresses a distinguished minerality (limestone, dry stone and a slightly smoky touch of flint), pronounced aromas of passion fruit, kiwi, gooseberries, as well as notes of crushed green apple, white nectarine and elderflower, combined with a delicate hint of toast in the background. The palate offers concentration, density and a lively and salivating acidic structure. We find flavours of gooseberry, passion fruit, tangy kiwi, green apple skin, crushed green apple, as well as a touch of elderflower and a racy limestone and smoky minerality. In the finish, we also have a refreshing and pleasant vegetal (cucumber) and herbaceous (cut grass) touch, wrapped in the gourmandize of white peach." - Magazine Vert de Vin n°26