2022 Domaine Regis Minet Pouilly-Fume Vieilles Vignes, Loire, France

Sauvignon Blanc has many incarnations throughout the world, but even in the Loire Valley—the grape's spiritual home—Pouilly Fumé represents a very distinctive example. While it shares the Kimmeridgian limestone of its neighbor Sancerre, its soils also contain fragments of flint, which are presumably responsible for Pouilly Fumé's characteristic goût de pierre à fusil, or gunflint taste. Régis Minet, a second-generation vigneron who already boasts almost forty harvests under his belt, is always happy to demonstrate how striking together two pieces of flint from his vineyard creates the smoky gunflint aroma typically associated with the wine. A generous host, Régis is known to greet his guests with cornucopian platters of locally produced meats and Loire goat cheeses. Not surprisingly, his lively, crisp, floral, and beautifully mineral Pouilly Fumé is the quintessential foil to savory slices of saucisson and a sticky Crottin de Chavignol.