Jonathan Pabiot Pouilly Fumé – the new Didier Dagueneau of the Loire?

Viewed by many as the new Didier Dagueneau, Jonathan is – somewhat incredibly – one of only three growers (out of the 150 active in the appellation) to farm organically!  His wines are almost crystalline with haunting mineral characteristics and benchmark – Sauvignon Blanc – fruit definition.

2013 Pouilly Fumé Domaine Jonathan Pabiot

Jonathan is the fifth generation of Pabiot’s to have toiled the soils of Pouilly Fumé. His grandfather, Lucien, and father Didier, had steadily built up the business, but mainly in the mode of a co-operative. In 1990 they built a very modern cellar above the hamlet of Les Loges and evolved into a true Domaine and began bottling their own wines.
Jonathan was sent to the local college in Cosne-sur-Loire to learn viticulture but dropped out, fearing his lessons contained too much theory and too little practice! Instead, he headed to Faugères and did an intern at Domaine Léon Barral. He returned to Les Loges in 2006 and worked 2.5 hectares of vines granted to him by his father, and a further one hectare which he rented. From these Jonathan produced his first wine.
Within a year he had managed to convince his somewhat sceptical father to convert to organic methods, with certification awarded with the 2010 vintage.  By the 2011 season, Jonathan was considered by Didier to have ‘worked his apprenticeship’ and the two effectively combined their 18 hectares in an irresistible transition from father to son.
Made for shellfish, also sushi – or just simply a wonderful aperitif
Nick Adams MW

£18 each