WHITE BURGUNDY

Burgundy is divided into a number of sub-regions and these are important in sorting out this jigsaw puzzle of a viticultural area.

White Burgundies are, typically, Chardonnay wines. There are a few exceptions:
"Aligoté" is a rather simple and acidic dry white, making its most noteworthy wine in the area of Bouzeron.

"Sacy" is responsible for some wines designated "Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire" which come from the Yonne (Chablis) region.
"Sauvignon" (blanc) makes some very nice little wines in the Chablis sub-region of "St-Bris-le-Vineux" and we've, periodically, had some of this steely, dry white here in the shop.

I have seen references to Pinot Blanc and Pinot Chardonnay with respect to Burgundy. There is even a supposedly "mutant" clone of Pinot Noir, said to be first isolated at the domaine of Henri Gouges in Nuits-Saint-Georges.

So, for the most part we're dealing with CHARDONNAY.


Now, you need to know the sub-regions here:

"Chablis," located about 60 miles northwest of the heart of Burgundy. There is a wine known as "Petite Chablis" from small pockets of vineyards scattered around the region. This is usually really simple, acidic, bone dry and very light. "Chablis" can be magnificent wine. The most prestigious are of Grand Cru status and encompass seven "crus": Blanchot, Bougros, Les Clos, Grenouilles, Les Preuses, Valmur and Vaudésir. These can be the most interesting and long-lived wines, going ten or more years. The most common Premier crus include: Beauroy, Fourchaume, Montée de Tonnerre, Montmains and Vaillons.  These often take three to five years to blossom.
Click here for a page with Chablis photos and maps...

"Côte d'Or,"  the heart of Burgundy and where the most prestigious wines come from is divided into two sub-regions: the Côte de Nuits and the Côte de Beaune. It is from the latter area that the most well-known white Burgundies come from. 


Here you'll find Corton Charlemagne, Meursault, Auxey-Duresses, Saint-Romain, Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet and Saint-Aubin, along with Pernand-Vergelesses, Santenay, Beaune, Maranges, Chorey-Les-Beaune and Monthélie.
  

"Do you know the way to Montrachet?"

"Cote Chalonnaise" makes some good, lighter-weight Chardonnays. These might be found with the appellations of Givry, Mercurey, Rully or Montagny.

"Macon" is the most southerly region of Burgundy and it's most famous wine is Pouilly-Fuissé. There are a number of producers attempting to make oakier, richer white wines here, but, frankly, the wines sold by the large negociant firms are expensive and, to our taste, rather soulless and empty.   Happily some small estates have figured out how to make more interesting and complex wines.  A few of these rival good California Chardonnays and offer an alternative to good Côte de Beaune whites.  Few, though, reach the level of quality of fine Premier Cru or Grand Cru white Burgundy.  On the other hand, the area is loaded with producers of good, simple, straight-forward, non-oaked Chardonnays and these, costing around fourteen bucks, can be pretty satisfying.

White Burgundy Producers We Like:

DOMAINE Des COMTES LAFON

It's not fair to "tease" you with a huge write-up of a domaine whose wines are so highly regarded and so scarce that we can't offer you but a bottle from time to time.  

I had the good fortune to visit this small domaine in Meursault in March of 2002.  The property covers some 13.9 hectares, 8 of which are devoted to Chardonnay.  This is one of those domaines run by a perfectionist.  Dominique Lafon took over for his father René some years ago.  "Dad" was a highly regarded wine-grower and Dominique has the same reputation.



It was really great to taste these wines out of barrel (sorry if I'm torturing you), because when I've tasted the wines fresh-off-the-boat I've wondered what all the fuss is about.  Tasting them out of barrel (we tasted very fine 2000s and still-developing and hard-to-assess 2001s), I found the elements about which I've read.  These are deep and profound wines which are refined and elegant.  Dominique Lafon's right hand man, Stéphane Thibodaux told us that the wines are really nice after five or six years in the bottle.  But he said their 1992s, at ten years of age, were still "closed" unless you decant them and let them "breathe" for about an hour!

Ellen visited the estate in February of 2005 and described the wines she tasted as "magical."






Lafon purchased a property in Macon, so we are now able to have a taste of how a Meursault-Maniac handles Macon.  The first vintages have been rather promising, so this will be a project whose progress we will follow with great interest.  (How many Macon producers make great Montrachet?  Only Lafon!)





Macon Milly-Lamartine.  Good wines, though I didn't mistake them for Lafon's Meursault Clos de la Barre.  I am curious to see how these develop with cellaring.  Time will tell.

Post-script: I recently had a chance to taste some "older" bottles of Lafon's Macon wines.  Wow...what a difference with a year or two of bottle aging!  These are remarkably good wines but you can't really evaluate them when they're just-bottled and first-released.  These showed nice depth and hints of ripe apple, honey and toast (but not oaky).  The texture on the palate was much broader, too.

Post-Post-Script:  In Match of 2016 we tasted the current roster of Macon wines from Lafon...they're better than ever and, in fact, I asked Dominique about the wine I dubbed not Pouilly-Fuisse but "Pouilly Fuissault."






Montrachet, of which there is precious little!  Lafon has one-third of a hectare of vines in this appellation.  Some vintages they are fortunate enough to make six barrels.  Some years, not so much.  We were fortunate to be on the allocation list for this rarity.  Delicious and expensive.   But at today's prices, we are out of the game.

  Currently in stock:
We have some older vintages of Meursault...
Stop by.

 

Burgundy fanatics have great respect for the Leflaive name, as there is the prestigious (and expensive) Domaine Leflaive.
It is viewed as a reference point for white Burgundy wines and some of their wines are as exceptional as the price tag indicates.

Olivier Leflaive is related to that domaine, as his grandfather had two sons.  Grandpa Joseph was in the steel business and he had invested in vineyards as well.  In the 1950s Olivier's father Joseph-Regis teamed with Uncle Vincent in running the Leflaive winery in Puligny-Montrachet.

Olivier Leflaive was one of five children and he took off for Paris as a youngster and worked in the entertainment business, laboring in the world of TV and radio for a decade before coming home to Burgundy and joining Domaine Leflaive.  He was co-captain of that team with his cousin Anne-Claude, but eventually the Board of Directors decided it would be better to have one person leading the team and she, apparently, was more focused on that project, while Olivier had also launched his own little winemaking enterprise back in 1984.

At the outset he had Jean-Marc Boillot as his winemaker  (a good name in Burgundy wines) and this fellow was succeeded by Franck Grux (who early on worked at the famed estate of Guy Roulot).  Grux, today, also has help from a fellow named Philippe Grillet.

Leflaive did a good job in working with numerous growers around Burgundy and the company grew as they focused on Chassagne Montrachet, Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet wines.  He's purchased a number of vineyards, too, along with inheriting some jewels from the family: Chevalier-Montrachet and Bâtard-Montrachet, along with some Premier Cru holdings in Puligny and Meursault. 

CLICK HERE TO SEE A GOOD MAP OF LEFLAIVE'S MAIN HOLDINGS 

It's been said Olivier retired in 2010, but you wouldn't know it seeing what he's doing these days!
he's still quite active in all phases of the Leflaive "empire."

In 1997 he opened a little restaurant and in 2006 he launched a four star hotel.  In the middle of that, the company took on another winemaking challenge in Chablis.
It's been said they get fruit from about 120 hectares of vineyards, owning close to 15% themselves.

In September of 2020 we assembled a set of 2017 White Burgundy wines for a blind-tasting and, in addition to a bunch of $90, included wines from some less-prestigious appellations which were less pricey.

Olivier Leflaive's Pernand-Vergelesses was exceptional and one of the top wines in the tasting.

The nose was exceptional, displaying good fruit and some toasty notes, if less extreme compared to the typical Domaine Leflaive wines.  It seems Olivier Leflaive keeps the new oak to about 15%, enough to where its detectable, but not so much that it dominates the fruit.

This was a most pleasant surprise!

We currently have the 2019...delightful and still well-priced!

Currently in stock:  OLIVIER LEFLAIVE 2019 PERNAND-VERGELESSES  Sale $49.99

 

DOMAINE FRANCOIS MIKULSKI

Marie-Pierre and Francois Mikulski launched this little winemaking enterprise in the early 1990s while Francois was making the wines for his uncle, Pierre Boillot.

Mikulski's father was from Poland and was in the Polish military as World War II was starting.  He managed to escape to England and it's there he met a woman whose family was in Burgundy.  They married and Francois was born in the 1960s.  He was not much interested in school and he did enjoy working with plants.  Uncle Pierre's kids were not interested in vineyards and winery work, so he took on the challenge of working for the Boillot domaine.  

After a stint in the military he made his way to California and worked at Josh Jensen's Calera winery.   Mikulski had met California Ted Lemon at the domaine of Guy Roulot, a very famous little domaine.  Having traveled a bit back then and even with more recent excursions, he's got a good idea of the wines and techniques employed in various wine regions.

He confesses he's not much of a fan of California Chardonnays, saying it's really too warm to make energetic, crisp wines.  

In Burgundy, of course, there's a special terroir and challenging climate.

We've tasted his Meursault wines over the years and generally find them to be quite good.

These days his domaine comprises about 9.5 hectares of vineyards.  Many of those are rented.  The farming is done organically.

This basic Meursault is a blend of fruit from  4 to 6 different small sites covering perhaps a hectare and a half.  The vineyards are roughly 35 years of age and farmed organically, but without certification.

The wine sees a small percentage of new oak, but Mikulski says he really wants to showcase the minerality of Meursault's terroir. We typically find a bit of leesy and smoky notes in his wines and there's some of those features in the 2018 vintage bottling. There's a note of ripe pear fruit and a mildly creamy fragrance.  It's dry, crisp and medium-bodied.  This seems to develop nicely with some aeration as it warms from refrigerator temperature.

We seem to have found his wine to be more smoky some years ago and these days you'll find more fruit and minerality.

Currently in stock:  FRANCOIS MIKULSKI 2018 MEURSAULT  $94.99  (last bottles)

 

A good bottle from Mikulski at a dinner in Beaune...some sort of foie gras mousse with a seafood soup.
It sounds a bit unusual, but the flavors were exceptional.
The wine was nicely toasty and was quite nice with this dish.

ETIENNE SAUZET

The name of Etienne Sauzet is
well-known to most fans of 
white Burgundy.

Sauzet was born in the early 1900s
and the domaine comprised about
12 hectares of vines by 1950.

Sauzet passed away in 1975 and
the estate has been run since then
by grand-daughter Jeanine and her
husband, Gerard Boudot.

The domaine comprises approximately 9
hectares today, with the full spectrum of
wines being made.  You can start at basic
Bourgogne and work your way up to 
Montrachet.

Boudot follows in the footsteps of the late founder, keeping the wines in barrel on the spent yeast for 10 to 18 months, depending upon the appellation.  The premier cru and grand cru wines are entirely fermented and aged in small oak barrels.  Boudot seems to prefer about one-third new cooperage for these wines and I understand he'll put wines into stainless steel if he feels they need more aging but not more wood or exposure to oak.

We tasted Boudot's range of 2009s and found them to be really special wines.  Each was very fine and they all tasted "expensive" to me, a rarity with respect to most tastings.  

Sauzet "IS" Puligny-Montrachet.  So's Leflaive, for that matter and both make some terrific wines.  Leflaive's tend to be more smoky and toasty, with a bit more of a lean aspect, while the Sauzet wines have a more opulent quality to them while still retaining their expressive terroir and being complex and showy.

The Champ Canet parcel is approximately one hectare and the vines are close to 50 years of age.
Troncais and Allier barriques are used for the fermentation and aging, with perhaps 40% being new according to Boudot.   The wine may spend close to a year in wood and then it may go into stainless steel for another 6 months or until Monsieur Boudot deems the wine ready for bottling.  The 2009 is fairly full, mildly woodsy with some apple and peach notes in a 'reserved' sort of fashion.  Nicely acidic, too, so this is zesty at this stage and should remain in top form for a few more years...

The 2018 Champ Gain is a young, crisp, tangy white Burgundy.  There's a ripe aspect to the fruit, yet it's presently a bit taut and lean on the palate.  This should do well with a bit of bottle aging..

Currently in stock:  2009 ETIENNE SAUZET Puligny-Montrachet "Champ Canet" Sold Out
2018 ETIENNE SAUZET Puligny Montrachet "Champ Gain"   Sold Out

  

 

DOMAINE MICHEL JUILLOT

Ages ago when we first visited France and explored the vineyards and restaurants in Burgundy, we quickly became acquainted with the wines of Domaine Michel Juillot.  It was partly a matter of economics, as it remains today: finding good, soulful Burgundy without having to refinance the house.

We dined in some rather fancy places and would ask the somms for a suggestion of something particular good quality with a modest price.  The wines of Michel Juillot were recommended, though in those days, we were being guided to their red wines.

The domaine is one of the most prominent in the Côte Chalonnaise village of Mercurey.  Back in the 1960s, we believe, they had perhaps 6 hectares of vineyards.  Today they take care of 31 hectares and the winery is run by Laurent Juillot.  Twenty-one hectares are devoted to Pinot Noir and 10 to Chardonnay.

 

Most of their vineyards are in an around Mercurey and environs, though they have some holdings north in Aloxe-Corton.  He explains if those wines didn't sell for a premium price, it would be a money-losing matter to have to drive so far away (more than 40 kilometers).

They farm sustainably, saying their vineyards are cultivated "lutte raisonnée."  And their vineyards are all picked by hand.  

In tasting through wines of the Côtes Chalonnaise, it soon became apparent that this estate is at the top in the region, making wines worthy of comparison to the Côte d'Or brethren.  Every wine, white or red, was quite good and showing beautifully.

We presently have a Rully Blanc in the shop with the cru designation of Les Thivaux.

 

 

The vineyard was planted in 1979, so the vines are quite mature.  If you're keeping track, the soil is clay and limestone.  The grapes are hand-harvested and anything not perfect is culled out on a sorting table.  The bunches are then whole-cluster pressed and the juice is allowed to settle for half a day. 

The juice then goes into a combination of wood:  one-third is fermented in barrel and the rest goes into puncheons. Indigenous yeast fermentation.  The wine spends about a year in wood before bottling and only 10% of the barrels are brand new.  

We like the toasty and smoky elements of the wine.  It's medium-bodied and dry.  It's not as dramatic as our $50-$150 bottles of white Burgundy, but for less than $30, this is a winner.  

 

Currently in stock:  MICHEL JUILLOT 2015 RULLY BLANC "Les Thivaux"  $28.99

 

Apparently they've grown tired of the old-fashioned and beautifully distinctive art on their label and are changing it to appear as this design (above).
Now their bottles will look virtually like everyone else's.

 

 

JUSTIN GIRARDIN

The Girardin name is well-known in the Côte de Beaune and the family traces its roots back to the late 1500s. 

Justin Girardin's grandfather Jean began cultivating vineyards in his hometown of Santenay shortly after World War II.
He had three sons who went on to make wine, Yves, Vincent and Jacques. A fourth offspring didn't pursue a career in the wine business.

The wines of Vincent Girardin are well-known and have a following here in the US and France.  Vincent's brother Jacques maintained a lower profile, but his son Justin is becoming a young and rising star with his beautifully made Burgundies.

Justin's parents increased their vineyard holdings over the years, branching out from Santenay to Chassagne-Montrachet, Pommard and Savigny-Les-Beaune.  The ownership of the domaine passed from Jacques to Justin in 2012.

Today Justin farms about 17 hectares of grapes and his loves being outdoors and working in the vineyards.  He employs some organic and biodynamic practices in the vineyards 

Justin says: 
"We are not 'organic' winegrowers but for many years we have endeavored to listen to nature and only intervene when appropriate. Certain methods that we use and that today are called 'biodynamic' are in fact those that our ancestors used to meet the needs for the well-being of the vine.

Each of us recognizes that it is necessary to return to a healthier agriculture and for that the work of the winegrower is imperative: a well-maintained vine will produce healthy grapes and therefore a wine of quality. "

We had tasted the 2016 Santenay Blanc and liked it...acquired a bottle for a blind-tasting and liked it in that "beauty contest."  
The succeeding vintages have been similarly-styled and of similar quality.

 

They had planted or replanted some Santenay parcels in the 1960s and we dissatisfied with the resulting wine.  They ended up terracing some of the hills and replanting again between 1970 and 1986.  This time they got it right.

Girardin vinifies the wine in small oak, using maybe 15-20% new barrels.  The wine spends about a year in wood and has a nice, delicate balance of oak;  there's just enough that you might wonder if it had been barrel-aged but not so much that it's the focal point of the wine.
We have the 2018 in stock presently...delicious and well-priced, too.  

 

Currently in stock:  JUSTIN GIRARDIN 2018 SANTENAY BLANC "Les Terrasses de Bievaux"  $29.99

 

Justin Girardin in 2018

DOMAINE CHARLEUX

Ferdinand Charleux founded this small domaine back in the 1890s with less than a hectare of vineyards.  He enlarged the esate to two hectares by the time of his death in the 1920s.  Joseph Charleux took over and added another 6 hectares by the time he retired in 1960.  Maurice took over and today he and his son Vincent farm about 12 hectares of vineyards in and around the below-the-radar appellation of Maranges as well as having a few vines in nearby Santenay.

They farm sustainably and say it's important for one generation to leave the earth in good condition for the next.  

As a result, you'll hear them speak about "lutte raisonnée." 

They plant grasses between the rows of vines as a means of controlling erosion, as many of the vineyards are on slopes.

We have long known this domaine as a source for good quality, reasonably priced red wines, but the past few years their Maranges Blanc from the "La Fussière" cru has been remarkably good.

We had tasted this in the shop and it was a pleasant surprise.  Over in Burgundy we tasted Charleux's wines again alongside wines from other domaines with more prestigious appellations and were delighted to see this estate is quietly cementing its reputation as a source of good quality and stylish wines (with sensible price tags).

The juice is given a day of skin contact and then goes into small French oak barrels.  Perhaps 20% of the cooperage is new.  Barrel-fermented and aged for about a year and then bottled...voila!  Nothing fancy, but this wine is a good example of Burgundian winemaking.  

It goes for $29.99 a bottle, far less than many California Chardonnays of which few are worthy of comparison.

Currently in stock:  DOMAINE CHARLEUX 2018 MARANGES 1er Cru "La Fussière" Sold Out

 

DOMAINE PAVELOT (Pernand Vergelesses)

The appellation of Pernand-Vergelesses is one of those relatively 'forgotten' names amongst Burgundy aficionados.  It's a little village of perhaps 300 people tucked away at the northern part of the Cote de Beaune.  

Drive ten minutes north and you're in Vosne-Romanee.  Drive ten minutes south and you're in Pommard, Volnay or maybe Puligny-Montrachet.  All those names are far more famous than Pernand-Vergelesses.  And the most prestigious domaine situated in Pernand doesn't make a wine from vineyards within the AOC of Pernand-Vergelesses, but Corton and Corton-Charlemagne (that would be Bonneau du Martray).

The entire appellation of Pernand-Vergelesses tallies to around 132 hectares, so it's not exactly a large place.

You can easily be confused as to the name Pavelot, for there are two wineries with this name.  One Pavelot is located in Savigny-Les-Beaune and this little domaine of 9 hectares is in beautiful downtown Pernand-Vergelesses.

It's run, these days, by a brother and sister team, Luc and Lise Pavelot.   Both of them graduated from the wine school in nearby Beaune.  Each had good winemaking experiences in doing internships:  he ventured to California and spent some time at Navarro, while Lise headed to the Loire Valley to see how things operated at the Dagueneau winery.

Importer Gary Roshke and his wife Lise Pavelot.

 

Grapes are all hand-harvested into these special harvesting baskets.

 

The vineyards of Pernand-Vergelesses used to be the source of much Aligoté, but in the past few decades most has been replaced by the more financially-rewarding Chardonnay.  Pavelot, however, still cultivates a modest amount of Aligoté.  It's planted, keep in mind, in sites which would be AOC Pernand-Vergelesses were they planted to Chardonnay, so the pedigree of the terroir is particularly good.  
It has been fermented, typically, in stainless steel and then left in stainless until bottling, but with the 2012 vintage, a remarkably tasty wine, this was matured in neutral oak barrels.
While old-time Aligoté was a shrill little white wine, you'll find this to be marvelously stony and crisp with some "there" there.

 

 

We also were delighted by the 2011 Pernand-Vergelesses Blanc.  This comes from a variety of vineyard sites, some facing east and others catching the afternoon sun being west-facing.  There's also a small amount of a parcel which is a Premier Cru site (En Caradeux).   The wine sees about 10% new oak, so it's actually more along the lines of a really serious Chablis than big, white Burgundy.  We like the lemony and stony notes here...a delight with seafood, especially.  

 

 

Showing off the map of some of the Pavelot vineyard sites.



Lise opens a number of bottles to show off the family artistry...

 

 

Currently in stock:  
2012 PAVELOT PERNAND-VERGELESSES BLANC  Sold Out

 

 

DOMAINE PARISSE  (DOMAINE THIBERT)

Many of the wines from this little winery are sold as "Domaine Thibert," but they have another brand and label called Domaine Parisse and we have a source for their terrific Mâconnais wines under that banner.

The winery and vineyards are owned by a brother and sister team, Christophe Thibert and sister Sandrine.

The family traces its roots back 7 or 8 generations, but the story of their little winery began more recently, starting in 1967.

Grandfather Thibert's family owned two hectares of vineyards.  René Thibert and his wife Andrée Parisse wanted to work with vineyards and wine and sold grapes to a local grower's co-op winery. Their first harvest was in 1967 and over the years they were able to purchase additional land in the Fuissé area.  

Christophe Thibert finish his wine schooling and came to work in the family business in 1990 and it was around this time period that the idea of making wine on their own became a viable prospect.  They still sold grapes to the co-op while making some of their own wine.

Sandrine joined the business in 1999 after finishing school and traveling around the world.  

These days they have 22 hectares of vineyards with nearly half being in the Pouilly-Fuissé appellation.  They have parcels in nearby Pouilly-Vinzelles,  St. Veran, Pouilly-Loché, Mâcon Fuissé, Mâcon Vinzelles, Mâcon Prissé and Mâcon Verzé..

They've been farming organically since 2007, though it's not a selling point for them.  As a result they do not have any sort of certification, but they don't employ chemical fertilizers as had been common years ago.   They don't use weed killers but are now plowing the vegetation in and around the vines.  

Whatever they're doing, it seems to be providing good quality grapes as their wines are a model for Mâcon wines.

We currently have a couple of bottlings.

There's a 2014 Pouilly-Vinzelles comes from a site called "Les Longeays."  This is a few kilometers southeast of Fuissé and produces a wine with minerality similar to their Pouilly-Fuissé.  It's vinified in oak and stays in wood for just less than a year before being racked into stainless steel for a bit before bottling.  It's not always filtered, as they evaluate the wine and make that call if it's necessary.  

The 2015 Pouilly-Fuissé comes from older parcels of vineyards, averaging about 75 years of age.  While those old vines don't produce a bumper crop of fruit, they do provide grapes with remarkable intensity and character.  Thibert vinifies the wine in wood but the oak plays a supporting role.  Thibert uses somewhere between 5 and 15% of new barrels as he wants to showcase the vineyard character and the special terroir of their area.  It's a bit fuller than the Pouilly Vinzelles.

 

The Thibert/Parisse cellar.

 

Currently in stock:  DOMAINE PARISSE 2014 POUILLY-VINZELLES "Les Longeays"  Sold Out
DOMAINE PARISSE 2015 POUILLY-FUISSÉ "Vieilles Vignes"  Sold Out

 

CHATEAU DE CHASSAGNE-MONTRACHET

 

The Bader-Mimeur family own most of the property known as the Chateau de Chassagne-Montrachet with another vintner owning about 2% of the vines.   The family can trace its Burgundian roots back to the early 1900s and one of the old-timers had a little wine shop in Paris which is still in operation as an outlet for the winery.

Alain Fossier married into the family and he's viewed as the engine that runs this place these days.

One of our top importers was visiting Burgundy recently and tasted the range of wines they're making...he came away fairly impressed and brought some wines to taste.  A nice little Bourgogne Rouge was very good...and their 2010 Chassagne-Montrachet with the "Chateau de Chassagne-Montrachet" label is very handsome!

The 2010 vintage of Chassagne-Montrachet comes from vines averaging about 35 years of age.  The wine is matured in small oak cooperage, with 20% of the barrels being new.  This makes for a nicely balanced wine...you can sense the wood in the glass, but it's not the centerpiece of the wine.
Dry...medium-bodied.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Currently in stock:  2010 BADER-MIMEUR "CHATEAU DE CHASSAGNE-MONTRACHET"  Chassagne Montrachet  Sold Out

 

MANCIAT-PONCET

Claude Manciat and his wife Simone Poncet have been growing grapes for decades, but they only began bottling their own wines in 1979.

They have about 4.5 hectares of vineyards in the Pouilly-Fuissé appellation and another five in Macon. While most of the vineyards in Macon are machine-harvested, Manciat-Poncet vineyards are still picked by hand.   

Though they both qualify for the senior citizen's discount at the local cinema, both Claude and Simone are vivacious and still enthusiastic about their work. 

We tasted a variety of tank and barrel samples on our visit a few years ago.  Claude buys oak, for example, from several different coopers and the wines aged in each has a slightly different "seasoning" as a result.  To complicate matters, slightly, Manciat-Poncet works with one importer whose preference is for lavishly-oaked wines and another whose preference is more for wines which have no oak or merely a hint of wood.  The importer we purchase from prefers the wines which taste more of the grape than of the lumber.












The Pouilly-Fuissé we have is the "Les Crays" bottling, a wine which shows just a bit of wood.  One part of the wine is exposed to a percentage of new barrels, while most is matured in seasoned, more neutral oak.  Large negociant firms such as Louis Jadot bottle a small lake's worth of Pouilly-Fuissé which is rather bland, simple white wine of little character.  (And I'm being polite.)

Manciat-Poncet's wine actually has quite a bit of Chardonnay character and a hint of wood.  

 

 

Their Macon-Charnay (Charnay is a village whose wines can be sold either as Macon-Villages or Macon-Charnay) is a delicious, light, uncomplicated white wine.  It still has character, though, even though wood is not part of the equation.  The 2011 comes from a good vintage and the fruit in this wine is reminiscent of the fragrance we get from a bucket of fresh-picked apples from our friend's place in Woodside.  Delightful! It's an uncomplicated, yet delicious, wine.  

 

 

They make a bit of Pinot Noir and Gamay.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simone organized a lovely lunch for us.  


Crudités and Macon-Charnay.
This is a lovely combination!


Asparagus, Haricots Verts and Jerusalem Artichokes along with
some Pike Quenelles made for one nice lunch!

CURRENTLY IN STOCK:  
2016 MACON-CHARNAY  Sold Out

A. et P. DE VILLAINE

Bouzeron isn't exactly the center of the universe when it comes to Burgundy.

It's a small appellation (and a new one, at that) which is devoted to the white grape, Aligoté.  When wine connoisseurs visit Burgundy, Bouzeron  is almost certainly on the itinerary.  Visiting there would be a bit like heading to a fancy car dealer and taking a spin on a scooter, instead of test-driving a Bentley.

The Bouzeron appellation was created in 1998 and today it comprises about 52 hectares of vineyards and there are perhaps a dozen vintners who offer wine of this designation from La Côte Chalonnaise.

The most famous is this domaine, which is run by the main man of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Aubert de Villaine.  He's the "A", while his wife Pamela is the "P."  She's the first cousin, by the way, of Carneros (Napa) grower, Larry Hyde.  They have a modest estate in Bouzeron, with about half the production devoted to this looked-down-upon grape.  The domaine, these days, is run by Aubert's nephew, Pierre De Benoist.

Aligoté, however, was, once-upon-a-time, more highly regarded and even cultivated in such esteemed appellations as Pernand-Vergelesses and Meursault.  There still may be scattered plantings in those towns and in other places around Burgundy, but it's typically cultivated in places where you wouldn't bother with the more noble Chardonnay or Pinot Noir.  
In Bouzeron, however, it's a different story:  Aligoté is cultivated exclusively on slopes and not on flat land.  Not surprisingly, what is often a meager, skinny, runt-of-a-wine in other areas, produces a somewhat more interesting white wine in Bouzeron.

I don't want you to think this is a wine of the complexity of a major league White Burgundy, along the lines of a complex Chardonnay.  It is not.

It is, though, a very enjoyable, stony, minerally, bone dry white wine which may strike you as being sort of like a crisp Sancerre with the minerality of a good Chablis.  It's a good partner for shellfish starters as it will provide a lovely contrast with a more complex and opulent wine with the main course.

Currently in stock:  2017 DE VILLAINE "BOUZERON"  $39.99

 

LAMBLIN

This family traces its history in Chablis back to the year 1690.  Three hundred and fifteen years later, we finally bought some wine from them.  I'm sure they're hoisting a glass of bubbly to celebrate.

We've tasted various vintages of the Lamblin's simple "Bourgogne Blanc" and typically found the wine to be well-made, crisp, nodding in the direction of Chablis.   The 2005-2019 bottlings were very good and now the 2020 vintage is here...quite nice!  And it's selling for but sixteen bucks and change!  There's a touch of the minerally, lime-like, appley, mildly mushroomy note...sort of Chablis-Meets-Vouvray (except no sugar).  It tastes like it comes from Chablis or near Chablis and is a good example of non-oaked Chardonnay.  

We like this paired with steamed clams, pâté, cold chicken and other light fare.  

 

The Lamblin's suggest serving this with cream-sauced fish.   Your mileage may vary.

Currently in stock:  2020 LAMBLIN "Bourgogne - Chardonnay" (list $18)   SALE $15.99

 

GERALD & PHILIBERT TALMARD

This is a father and son team located in the village of Uchizy in Macon.  They actually have holdings in a couple of places and produce attractively-priced, crisp, snappy Chardonnays.  The property comprises some 30 hectares of vineyards and these are famed "lutte raisonée" (in the direction of organic).

They make two wines, one from Uchizy and the other from the town of Chardonnay (yes, the grape is Chardonnay and the town is called Chardonnay!).  

We stock the Macon-Chardonnay and this has been a frequent offering here in the shop since the 1980s!  Gérald Talmard uses indigenous yeast fermentations and no trees are chopped down to produce this wine apart from the cardboard boxes it comes in...

We visited a few years ago and Monsieur Talmard was amused we would travel so far to see so little.  I explained that we have long admired his wine and have offered it in the shop for decades.  "It's time to stop by, see the place and say thanks," we told him.

The wine is not exposed to wood and it's a simple, crisp, bright dry white wine.  You won't confuse this with Montrachet, but then, you can buy cases and cases of Talmard Macon for the price of a single bottle of Montrachet.

Currently in stock:  2020 TALMARD MACON-CHARDONNAY  $14.99

Nothing fancy in the cellar...just typical, easy-to-clean stainless steel tanks, some bottling and labeling equipment, a few wine glasses and, voila!

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