a nice pouilly-fuissé

recently, while trying to find french butter online, i came upon paris grocery in seattle.  i did find the butter, but the real discovery was this mention on their blog of a french white wine known as pouilly-fuissé.

image courtesy Paris Grocery Seattle

now, i don't know a lot about wine.  i mostly know that i like it.  and i know i prefer reds.  but at christmas my sister kc jokingly mentioned that she likes "a nice pouilly-fuissé" and it became a running joke throughout the holiday.  none of us knew much, if anything, about pouilly-fuissé, but that didn't stop us from repeatedly and enthusiastically declaring it our favorite wine of all!  (okay, maybe that was just me.)  so, when i saw the photo above and read the accompanying description of the 2008 albert bichot pouilly-fuissé as "zesty" with "notes of lemon and beeswax", i was curious.    

me, enjoying a red

i recently consulted my copy of oldman's guide to outsmarting wine and learned that pouilly-fuissé is a french white burgundy made from chardonnay grapes grown in the mâconnais, a sub-region of burgundy.  aha!  pouilly-fuissé is a french chardonnay!  for those of us more familiar with california wines that description is enormously helpful.  it also could have been the end of the story.  

me, again (there is a surprising/troubling number of photos like this)

as mentioned, i prefer reds.  i'm not a fan of chardonnay; it's too, well, much.  but, i kept reading, as i am wont to do.  and it turns out that where the typical california version has, as one chardonnay-loving friend puts it, an oaky-buttery quality, the french version has a "lean, clean, appley elegance".  and that sounds good to me.  pouilly-fuissé: light, crisp, refreshing!  and, possibly, a new favorite?  as soon as i make the right meal (something with shrimp, perhaps) and invite someone to share this bottle with me, i'll let you know.

p.s. to read a bit more about pouilly-fuissé, check out this interesting article.