2024 Domaine Renaud et Fils Pouilly-Fume 750 ml

Sancerre has its crown jewel villages—Bué, Chavignol, Verdigny—and so does its neighbor, Pouilly-Fumé. 

No town in Pouilly-Fumé is more famous than Saint-Andelain, whose hillsides are the most revered in the appellation. They’re the home of Domaine Didier Dagueneau, who makes the most expensive Sauvignon Blanc in France, and whose entry-level bottling will set you back $100.

Just a three-minute walk down Rue Le Bourg sits Domaine Renaud, whose thrilling 2024 Pouilly-Fumé also comes from Saint-Andelain’s famed slopes. If it were from Sancerre, Renaud’s flagship wine would easily be $50. But Pouilly-Fumé remains juuuust enough off the radar that these fine village distinctions pass without premiums attached. That’s great for white-wine lovers. 

A generation ago, most Sancerre traded for a similar price no matter the village it came from—but that’s certainly not true today. As the appellation gained international acclaim, merchants and somms from across the globe started to study its finer details, like master anglers learning the trout lies in their local stream.

Pouilly-Fumé, to continue that analogy, still looks like just a river to the international wine world, but that’s changing fast. The Wall Street Journal declared Pouilly-Fumé to be the “French Sauvignon Blanc we should be drinking more often,” and it’s stepping out of the shadow of neighboring Sancerre. After all, Dagueneau’s rare Asteroide bottling will set you back more than a bottle of Mouton-Rothschild!

Domaine Renaud’s Pouilly-Fumé captures that electric mandarin blossom, white peach, salty flint, and lemon zest character that we love from the silex (flint) soils of Saint-Andelain’s hillsides. Vinified entirely in stainless steel, it’s vibrant and long on the palate, perfect to drink with oysters this winter, with delicate salads in the spring, and with grilled shrimp over the summer. A wine for all seasons!