2023 Guffens-Heynen Pouilly-Fuisse Croux et Petits Croux (Pre-arrival)

From barrel, I wondered whether the 2023 Pouilly-Fuissé Croux et Petits Croux could rival the extraordinary 2020 rendition of this cuvée (a wine that remains one of the most thrilling young white Burgundies I have tasted over the last 15 years). In bottle, it’s clear that it can. If the 2020 is almost neoclassical in its harmony and structure, the 2023 is more flamboyant and demonstrative, bursting with notes of crisp orchard fruit, honeyed pear, white flowers, mandarin oil and licorice root. On the palate, it’s full-bodied, dense and multidimensional, with palate-staining levels of concentration, immense reserves of chalky structuring extract and a long, resonant finish. Anyone with the opportunity to compare and contrast the two vintages with a decade or more of bottle age (which Les Croux really requires) is in for one of the tastings of a lifetime!