24 Days of French Wine: Pouilly-Fumé

Time to change it up with a white wine. This is the fairly well known - as in something I'd actually heard of before - Pouilly Fumé. This does not mean it's a smoked wine. The "fumé" refers to the smoky grey bloom that happens on the grapes when they get ripe.

Note: there is also "Pouilly Fuissé" which is a totally different wine from a different region with a different grape. This is not that.

~The details~ 

Name: Le Chasnoy
Year: 2013
Region: Loire Valley
Appellation: Appellation Pouilly-Fumé Contrôlée
Grape/Cépage: Sauvignon (blanc)
Alcohol: 12.5%
Serving Temp: 9-11ºC
Serving ideas: Fish and poultry in sauce
Special notes: Bottled on the property

What we did:  I've been roaming a bunch of wine-pairing-recommendation sites lately instead of just going by the bottle. Finally we decided on a mâche salad with corn, raw beets, smoked trout, and aged chèvre on baguette slices, all drizzled with hazelnut oil and a bit of salt. Then lemon meringue tartlets for dessert.

Now, I'll admit that until now I've pretty much been an off-dry-white-wine girl. I've been all about the Rieslings and Gewürztraminers and found most other whites just taste like sour, watery, boozy grapes. So the best I can describe this Pouilly-Fumé is that it tastes like a more sour Riesling. It has all this lovely sweet/fruity flavour mixed with a lot of acidity so without the right dish it's very sweet-and-sour but I bet it would be really special if paired just right.
Our pairing was okay, but I think next time I'd match this wine against something more substantial - or at least risk putting some vinegar into the dressing instead of a simple drizzle of oil.

1- An article about pairing wines with salads.
2- Pouilly-Fumé wiki French / English