When we reach the 1er Jus des Hauts des Vignes, we are at the summit of the Guffens-Heynen range. This wine is an assemblage of only the free-run juices of a minimum of four successive tris (four passes through the vineyard to pick only perfectly ripe fruit). The sources are the Vergisson Crus of La Roche, Les Crays and Les Croux. Les Croux sits at the apex of the magnificent Roche de Vergisson, facing southwest. Guffens owns two parcels: a selection of 1980 plantings in Les Croux proper and a parcel of 60-year-old vines in Clos des Petits Croux—a small, enclosed section of the vineyard. Very occasionally, Guffens bottles the Clos separately, though he has not done so for many years due to the paucity of juice. Then we have La Roche and Les Crays, two of Pouilly-Fuissé’s most prestigious crus capable of producing some of the village’s most mineral and precise wines. Both sites are classified 1er Cru Pouilly-Fuissé. Were it not for hail damage, each site would have been bottled as separate 1er Cru wines this year.
Guffens’s German-style bunch selection ensures only pristine and fully ripe fruit (and only the finest juice) goes into this wine. No pressings are blended back in, and, as with all Guffens’s wines, it is neither fined nor filtered. The 2022 was raised with 20% new oak for 10 months before settling in concrete tank. It’s among the finest whites of Burgundy.