The Mâconnais and The Rhône The Mâconnais and the Rhône Here we feature wines from two contrasting and complementary French wines regions in eastern France: the former producing almost exclusively white wine from Chardonnay, the latter dominated by reds, from Grenache, Syrah and a range of supporting varieties. Our long-held enthusiasm for the wines of the Rhône was established with our first ever specialist list in the autumn of 2002. This year we thought we would, for the first time, give greater prominence to our splendid portfolio of wines from the Mâconnais. Simon Taylor September 2010 Mixed Cases All cases include 2 bottles of each of six wines, with a discount of at least 7.5%. MRH110 Mâcon Medley £118.50 MRH410 Grenache with Grunt £86.50 (Six reds) (Six whites) 2009 Vignerons d’Estézargues, Cuvée des Galets, Côtes du 2009 Talmard, Mâcon-Uchizy (p.3) Rhône (p.5) 2008 Fichet, Mâcon-Villages, Terroir de Burgy (p.3) 2009 Gres Saint Vincent, Côtes du Rhône Villages, Signargues 2009 Sainte Barbe, Mâcon-Villages, Les Tilles (p.3) (p.5) 2008 Nicolas Maillet, Mâcon Villages (p.4) 2008 Guicharde, Côtes du Rhône, Cuvée Léon (p.5) 2008 Maurice Lapalus, Mâcon Pierreclos (p.4) 2009 Amadieu, Côtes du Rhône Villages (p. 5) 2008 Saumaize-Michelin, Saint Véran, Fleur (p.4) 2007 Pigeade, Ventoux, Classique (p.6) 2009 Cassan, Ventoux, Les Esclausels (p.7) MRH210 Mâconnais Masters £156.00 (Six whites, three unoaked, three oaked) MRH510 Terroirs of the Rhône £138.50 2008 Fichet, Mâcon-Burgy, Les Verchères (p.3) (Two whites, four reds) 2009 Sainte Barbe, Mâcon-Villages, Les Tilles (p.3) 2009 Espiers, Côtes du Rhône Blanc, Les Diablotines (p.6) 2008 Sainte Barbe, Vire-Clessé, L’Epinet (p.3) 2008 Le Prieuré d’Arras, Saint Joseph Blanc (p.10) 2007 Amadieu, Côtes du Rhône Villages, Cairanne, Vieilles 2008 Chazelles, Vire-Clessé, Vieilles Vignes (p.4) Vignes, (p.5) 2008 Nicolas Maillet, Mâcon Verzé (p.4) 2007 Couroulu, Vacqueyras, Classique (p.7) 2007 Saumaize-Michelin, Pouilly-Fuissé, Pentacrine (p.4) 2009 Stéphan Pichat, Syrah, VdP (p.10) MRH310 Crisp Whites and Warming Reds £107.00 2006 Le Prieuré d’Arras, Saint Joseph Rouge (p.10) (Three unoaked Mâcons and three reds from the southern Rhône) MRH610 South to North Super Rhône Reds £195.00 2008 Fichet, Mâcon-Villages, Terroir de Burgy (p.3) (Three reds from the south, three from the north) 2008 Chazelles, Vire-Clessé, Vieilles Vignes (p.4) 2007 Cassan, Gigondas (p.7) 2008 Maurice Lapalus, Mâcon-Pierreclos (p.4) 2007 Couroulu, Vacqueyras, Vieilles Vignes (p.7) 2009 Gres Saint Vincent, Côtes du Rhône Villages, Signargues 2007 La Barroche, Châteauneuf du Pape, Terroir (p.9) (p.5) 2006 Monier, Saint Joseph Rouge (p.11) 2009 Cassan, Ventoux, Les Esclausels (p.7) 2007 Yann Chave, Crozes-Hermitage Le Rouvre (p.11) 2008 Domaine du Joncier, Lirac, Le Gourmand (p.8) 2004 Balthazar, Cornas, Chaillot (p.12) The Mâconnais If I ever thought seriously about upping sticks and moving to France, the Mâconnais would be high on my list of possible destinations. The countryside is beautiful, the weather warmer than England but still temperate, and the vernacular architecture enticing, with little villages of houses built of pale yellow stone clustered around ancient churches. Humans have enjoyed this region for a very long time, as numerous prehistoric sites from Azé to Solutré attest. In wine terms this is a fairly small wine region, approximating to a band about 40 kilometres from north to south, and about 10 kilometres wide, south of the Côte Chalonnaise, and north of Beaujolais. The vineyards are interspersed with plantings of maize, wheat, fruit, stands of poplar and pasture, the latter grazed by both Charolais cattle and Friesians. The best vineyard land tends to lie on the east facing and south-east slopes of north/south ridges, such as the big escarpment above the Saône Valley between Burgy and Viré, or the long, even gradient which runs from Azé via Igé and Verzé to the charmingly named La Roche-Vineuse. Whilst there is a little red wine here, from Gamay and Pinot Noir, this is principally a region for Chardonnay: as in the Côte de Beaune to the north, calcareous soils on these eastward facing hills are perfect for Chardonnay. There are four theoretical levels in the Appellation system: simply Mâcon, a now small zone; Mâcon-Villages, from a much larger geographic zone; then the still larger area of Mâcon- , with the name of 26 specific communes (i.e. villages), such as Burgy or Pierrreclos, appended; and finally the top appellations (some of which have been upgraded from villages with the Mâcon prefix) such as Viré-Clessé in the north and Saint-Véran and Poully-Fuissé in the south. At the same time the geographic name isn’t always a reliable guide to determining quality: much more important is how the land is farmed, how the vines are tended, and how the wine is made. We have tasted widely here, and at one unnamed co-operative in a decent village 2 the wine (if so it can be termed) appeared to taste like water flavoured with citric acid. By contrast a vigneron managing his vines for quality, not quantity, will make a much more interesting and tasty wine. No less than three of our growers - Jean-Marie Chaland at Saint Barbe, Nicolas Maillet and Roger Saumaize - belong to an association called Les Artisans Vignerons de Bourgogne du Sud. The rules of this group are simple: you have to pick your grapes by hand (about 90% of the grapes in the Maconnais are picked - often too early for the development of full ripeness and flavour - by machine); and you have to work the soil with machines or by hand, without using herbicides. The first and third are also farming their land biodynamically. Vintages are moderately important here, though there is some evenness of quality, and there hasn’t been a poor year since, arguably, the odd heatwave year of 2003. 2007 was problem-free; and 2008 uniformly excellent, with wines showing a perfect balance of fruit, concentration and acidity: the best wines will keep well. In 2009 the hot summer delivered very healthy ripe grapes, which have given us lovely fruity wines to be enjoyed young. Why do we like this area so much that we import from no less than seven estates? Firstly because the lesser wines give us a delicious expression of fresh unoaked Chardonnay, different to that of Chablis, but not necessarily offering any less a sense of place. Secondly, the barrel-fermented and oak-aged wines are getting better and better. As even the lesser villages in the Côte de Beaune have become more expensive, the Mâconnais now offers a genuine alternative, proper, ageworthy white Burgundy at a sensible price. Note: in the list below the domaines are listed approximately from north to south. Domaine Talmard, Uchizy 2008 Domaine Olivier Fichet, Mâcon-Villages, Terroir de Burgy, 13º [Screw-cap] The Talmards, now Mallory and Benjamin, make a very well- known wine which we have stocked since the 2001 vintage. Bottle £9.25 Case £105.45 Code FIC508 Unoaked, but always with considerable breadth and texture, this Pure, classically understated Chardonnay, nicely weighted, with is a benchmark of the region. (They also, confusingly, make a hints of grapefruit and almonds. Deservedly chosen by Simon Mâcon-Chardonnay, named not for the grape but after the nearby Hoggart for a wine offer in The Spectator this August, where village of Chardonnay). described as having “a subtle, slightly understated but creamy taste which made it a fine aperitif as well as a bottle you could 2009 Talmard, Mâcon-Uchizy, 13º drink happily with food”. Now-2012 Bottle £10.25 Case £116.85 Code TAL109 2008 Domaine Olivier Fichet, Mâcon-Burgy, An old favourite, with a loyal following, this always offers generous weight, rounded and subtle citrus fruit. Now-2012 Les Verchères, 13º Bottle £13.95 Case £159.03 Code FIC708 Olivier Fichet, Burgy Classy scents of green fruit with an attractive accent of lavender Olivier is the winemaker in his family’s cellar in Igé to the south, honey. Builds well, creamy and richly textured, with a core of but the vineyards he has bought on his own account lie around lime, greengage and even a suggestion of passion-fruit, with a Burgy in the northern Mâconnais, and notably in some of the best good buttress of supporting oak. Long. So complete and impressive land near the summit above the village. The excellent unoaked at this price. Now-2013 Mâcon-Villages he could call Mâcon-Burgy if he wished, but he chooses not to, as he restricts that name for his top wine, Les Domaine Sainte Barbe, Viré Verchères, from a single hectare of 60 year old vines, all barrel Young Jean-Marie Chaland, the son of the family who own fermented, with a fifth going into new barrels. The latter, winner Domaine des Chazelles (see below), is a live wire, quickly adopting of a gold medal in the 2010 Chardonnay du Monde competition, organic (certified) and then bio-dynamic viticulture with the aim is perfect for those who used to drink wines from the Côte de of improving his wines. He is also now using less new oak barrels Beaune but now can’t afford to! (as we expected: the young often throw new oak onto their wines with the intention of making something really impressive before swiftly realising their folly!). So Les Tilles, from a vineyard near Montbellet, planted on oolitic limestone soil, has now become unoaked.