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Price-conscious consumers are understandably a little shy of the 2005 Burgundy vintage. Praise has been nearly unanimous, and prices have shot skyward. <\/p>\n
While most attention has been on the reds, the whites are great, too. Still, not everybody will cheerfully drop $50 on a village-level Meursault, much less $150 for a good Corton-Charlemagne.<\/p>\n
As ever, the M\u00e2connais region rides to the rescue. For decades, the M\u00e2connais, south of the C\u00f4te d\u2019Or but part of Burgundy, has overflowed with inexpensive whites. The best were tangy, refreshing and satisfying. The problem was that few achieved even this modest level.<\/p>\n
But for the last decade or two M\u00e2connais wines have been improving significantly. Dynamic young producers who couldn\u2019t afford more desirable vineyard sites in Burgundy flocked to the M\u00e2connais, where they saw untapped potential at a reasonable price. Instead of viewing grapes as a cash crop to be transformed into wine at the local cooperative, they approach grape growing as seriously as the best Burgundian vignerons.<\/p>\n
Even some of the most renowned Burgundy producers, like Comtes Lafon of Meursault and Anne-Claude Leflaive of Domaine Leflaive, unable to expand in the C\u00f4te d\u2019Or, bought land in the M\u00e2connais. They recognized that the region was full of distinctive terroirs with much to offer.<\/p>\n
As with any industry that moves with the agricultural cycle, change has been slow. But progress has been steady. So the panel decided to taste 25 bottles of 2005 M\u00e2connais to see how the wines fared in this excellent year and whether the M\u00e2connais was still a bargain hunter\u2019s paradise. For the tasting, Florence Fabricant and I were joined by Byron Bates, general manager of Bette in Chelsea; and the wine writer Natalie MacLean, proprietor of the Web site Nat Decants.<\/p>\n
Like almost all white Burgundies, M\u00e2connais wines are made from chardonnay grapes. Yet their contrast with California chardonnays is extraordinary, and they serve as a delicious introduction to what makes white Burgundies distinct. <\/p>\n
Unlike chardonnays made almost anywhere else, in which ripe fruit flavors dominate, the best white Burgundies exude minerality and a vibrant texture, with underlying fruit and floral aromas. These differences can make people more attuned to the big fruit flavors wonder whether something is missing in the more subtle Burgundies. It can require a recalibration of the pleasure center.<\/p>\n
We found a lot to like about these wines, both in the glass and in their relatively light demand on the wallet. Because of the size of the M\u00e2connais, we restricted our tasting to the M\u00e2con appellations, excluding others that are parts of the larger M\u00e2connais, like Pouilly-Fuiss\u00e9 and Saint-V\u00e9ran. Given the quality of the M\u00e2con wines, it would be fair to say that the Pouilly-Fuiss\u00e9s and Saint-V\u00e9rans would be even better, though they generally cost more, too.<\/p>\n
The M\u00e2connais can be confusing in a different way than the C\u00f4te d\u2019Or. There the village and vineyard names suggest a hierarchy. The M\u00e2connais is more chaotic. Though wines labeled simply M\u00e2con are thought to be insipid, two plain M\u00e2cons made our top 10. If the grapes come from any of 40 or so villages, the wine can be called M\u00e2con-Villages; if the grapes all come from one of those villages, the name of that village can be appended to M\u00e2con, as in M\u00e2con-Ig\u00e9. But the sort of taxonomic arrangement of C\u00f4te d\u2019Or villages and vineyards has not yet taken place in M\u00e2connais.<\/p>\n
I tended to be more impressed than my colleagues. They liked them, but only to a point. Ms. MacLean liked their lemon zestiness and what she called their sunny happiness. Mr. Bates was impressed by the minerality and the purity of several of the wines, but on the whole said they were to drink, not to ponder.<\/p>\n
While these are not on the level of the C\u00f4te de Beaune, I think the ratio of quality to price counts. Is there a better $10 chardonnay than our No. 1, the M\u00e2con-Ig\u00e9 Ch\u00e2teau London from Domaine Fichet? This lively, exotic wine was floral and succulent, with a juiciness that kept drawing us back. <\/p>\n
Our No. 2, a M\u00e2con-Villages from Trenel, was more of a classic white Burgundy, with good minerality and a nutlike flavor of barrel aging.<\/p>\n
The Bret Brothers, Jean-Guillaume and Jean-Philippe, of Domaine de la Soufrandi\u00e8re, make excellent wines, primarily from Pouilly-Vinzelles. Their n\u00e9gociant operation offers some fine M\u00e2con wines, including our No. 3, M\u00e2con-Villages Cuv\u00e9e Terroir du M\u00e2connais, which was big and oaky but buttressed by a fresh acidity. <\/p>\n
The least expensive wines we tasted were $9, and two made the top 10.<\/p>\n
The first, the M\u00e2con-Lugny Les Charmes from Cave de Lugny, is a blast from the past. Tangy, with an almost yeasty aroma and freshness, it was what the best M\u00e2connais wines were like before producers got more ambitious. It\u2019s still delicious. The Labour\u00e9-Roi M\u00e2con-Villages St. Armand was unusual for its pronounced pear and apple flavors. <\/p>\n
At the other end of the price spectrum was the M\u00e2con-Milly-Lamartine from Lafon\u2019s M\u00e2connais operation, Les H\u00e9ritiers du Comte Lafon. It also emphasized fruit as well as mineral flavors. While the wines are enjoyable, I expect them to improve as Lafon puts its stamp on the vineyards.<\/p>\n
It is fashionable to extol smaller estates over larger operations, and we certainly had praise for the little guys. The M\u00e2con-Charnay Franclieu from Jean Manciat had delicious mineral and citrus flavors, while the M\u00e2con from Domaine Sainte-Barbe had anise and mineral flavors along with an attractive smoky quality. But some big n\u00e9gociants are reliable. The M\u00e2con-Villages from Joseph Drouhin was pure and delicious with great texture, and only $10.<\/p>\n
We only scratched the surface of the M\u00e2connais. Producers like Guffens-Heynen, Jean Rijckaert, Olivier Merlin and Maison Verget all offer distinctive M\u00e2con wines, and wines from Saint-V\u00e9ran and the Pouillys offer other perspectives.
Clearly, though, M\u00e2connais is a region in transition. The best wines show greater distinction and personality, and this is apparent in many of the 2005s. Yet they are still good values. Luckily, this has not changed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Price-conscious consumers are understandably a little shy of the 2005 Burgundy vintage. Praise has been nearly unanimous, and prices have shot skyward. While most attention has been on the reds, the whites are great, too. Still, not everybody will cheerfully drop $50 on a village-level Meursault, much less $150 for a good Corton-Charlemagne. As ever, the M\u00e2connais region rides to the rescue. For decades, the M\u00e2connais, south of the C\u00f4te d\u2019Or but part of Burgundy, has overflowed with inexpensive whites. The best were tangy, refreshing and satisfying. The problem was that few achieved even this modest level. But for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grapes-regions"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}