Produced from old vines located in various vineyards (including En Buland and Les Crays), the Pouilly-Fuisse Cuvee Vieilles Vignes is a flint and smoke scented beauty. Creamy-textured and medium-to-full-bodied, this delicious offering has citrus fruits, minerals, stones and chalk in its concentrated and intense flavor profile. I would suggest drinking it between 1999 and 2004. Bravo!Daniel Barraud, a hard-working, intelligent and dedicated man, is one of the Maconnais' finest producers. He believes that his 1996s are "more powerful, both in acidity and ripeness" than his '95s and are "magnificently precise and clean." I was blown away by Barraud's '95s (reviewed in issue #110), finding both his En Buland (91) and La Verchere (90+) to be outstanding, but his 1996s are even better. Moreover, these wines are excellent values.Barraud is not a believer in batonnage; his wines obtain their richness from late harvests and extended lees contact in barrel (as opposed to the traditional Maconnais vats). He neither fines nor filters his offerings.Importer: "Reserve" wines are imported exclusively by North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel (510) 848-8910; the other wines are Peter Vezan Selections (Paris Fax # 011-33-1-42654293), various importers including Skurnik in NY.

As expected, the 1993 Pouilly-Fuisse Vieilles Vignes exhibits the most honeyed, concentrated, old vine character of the three 1993 Pouilly-Fuisse cuvees from Daniel Barraud. A luxury cuvee fashioned from the best barrels of the two single vineyard Pouilly-Fuisses, it is the most tightly knit and promising of the three offerings. It should be drunk in its first 5-6 years of life.1993 is the first vintage in which Daniel Barraud, one of the up and coming stars of the Maconnais region of France, bottled his white wines without filtration. As readers will discover as they taste through the 1993 white Burgundies, especially those from the renowned Cote d'Or, it is largely a mediocre vintage with surprisingly hollow, high acid wines, but the finest producers should not be judged by vintage assessments.A Peter Vezan Selection, various importers. For availability information, Vezan's fax in Paris is 33.1.42.55.42.93.

One of the up and coming producers in the Maconnais, Daniel Barraud is a member of the younger generation committed to quality and in 1992 he decided to bottle all of his white wines unfiltered. The scores may be conservative since the 1992s had just been bottled. The 1992 Pouilly-Fuisse-Vieilles Vignes exhibits huge body, stunning depth, a honeyed, applebutter-scented nose, rich, medium to full-bodied flavors that display a judicious use of toasty new oak, adequate acidity, and a lusty finish.A Peter Vezan Selection, various importers.

The 1991 Pouilly-Fuisse-Vieilles Vignes is drinking beautifully, with superb extraction of flavor, an excellent nose of butter, honey, and grilled nuts, superb stuffing, low acidity, and a lusciously rich, intense finish. Drink it over the next 2-3 years.One of the up and coming producers in the Maconnais, Daniel Barraud is a member of the younger generation committed to quality and in 1992 he decided to bottle all of his white wines unfiltered. The scores may be conservative since the 1992s had just been bottled.A Peter Vezan Selection, various importers.