Quick, do you know the difference between Pouilly-Fuissé and Pouilly-Fumé wines? At a basic level, I knew that Pouilly-Fuissé is a Burgundy appellation for white wine made from Chardonnay grapes. I've had that more often than Pouilly-Fumé, a Loire Valley white wine made from Sauvignon Blanc. The similarity of names make it easy for the casual wine fan to get them confused.
Recently I had a chance to get a better handle on the distinction between the two wines, and thought I'd share my findings here. At the spring Grand Pairing event at Pairings Wine and Food, one of the four tasting tables had a bottle of Pouilly-Fumé followed by a Pouilly-Fuissé in their tasting lineup. I thought they were both great, especially for the price of around $20 that day. So I grabbed a bottle of both, and decided to do my own sort of side by side tasting at home. Last weekend I served them on back to back nights, to see how they compared with each other and how they would work paired with the foods we were serving.
Friday night we were having pasta with andouille turkey sausage and collard greens, similar to this recipe. I thought the "smokiness" of the Fumé might match the similar characteristic in the sausage, so I paired our pasta dish with the 2012 Jonathan Didier Pabiot Pouilly Fumé. I got lemon zest on the nose and some grapefruit as my initial taste. I definitely got some distinct smokiness on the back end of the taste. However, that smokiness in the wine didn't quite work with the sausage the way I'd hoped. There was a good bit of heat in the sausage, and the Fumé is a very dry wine. Next time I serve the dish or something similar I'll opt for something that has a touch of sweetness to offset the heat, maybe a Riesling or Gewurztraminer.
Don't get me wrong, the Jonathan Didier Pabiot Pouilly Fumé is a great wine. I appreciated it more when sipping it along with a bit of the shrimp I had alongside the pasta. The shrimp had been sauteed with a bit of soy and honey, a winning combination with the Fumé. A quick web scan for pairing pointers with Pouilly Fumé underscores the idea of serving it with seafood.
Saturday night I was making fettuccine with a creamy alfredo sauce. I often serve this with a Chardonnay, so it set us up nicely to follow the Pouilly-Fumé evening with some Pouilly-Fuissé. So we went with the 2011 Domaine Manciat-Poncet Pouilly-Fuissé. I got flint on my first taste, followed by some nice melon fruit. I also picked up just a hint of lemon. Nice round mouthfeel. That substantial mouthfeel gives the wine weight to stand up to the creamy sauce, and the melon and flint marry nicely with the flavors of the dish. I'd be hard pressed to pick which of the two wines is of better quality on their own, but the Pouilly-Fuissé with fettuccine was definitely the winning wine pairing of the weekend!
So how about you? Do you like Pouilly-Fuissé or Pouilly-Fumé? Have any pairings to suggest with either of them? Do tell!
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