The Best Chardonnay from the Mâconnais: Burgundy Wine Regions Tasting

Hey everybody, how are you? Like people, grapes are travelers. Throughout history, wherever we explore, they go with us. Chardonnay is probably the best example. It's one of the most widely planted grapes in the world. And because it's so ubiquitous now, it's hard to find good quality. I hate to say it, but there are a lot of mediocre and even bad Chardonnays out there. In my opinion, the way to guarantee that you get the best Chardonnay is to actually go back to its origins, to the place where it was born and where they've been making it for millennia. That would be Burgundy, France. For this weekly tasting, let's look at the Maconnais region of Burgundy, which is the birthplace of the Chardonnay grape. And of course, then we'll taste some Maconnais wines. Wine was already being made in the eastern part of France around the 1st century AD, first by the Gauls and then the Romans. As the Roman Empire crumbled, the region was occupied by a revolving caste of barbaric tribes, including the Burgundians. But through it all, one thing remained, the church, which was often the sole benefactor of land donated by nobility. That included grapevines and vineyards. The church, its monasteries, and its monks had land, money, and plenty of time on their hands, so they inevitably became the masters of the vineyard. Over time the monks learned that grapes from different parts of the land each created a subtly different style of wine. So they mapped out the entirety of Burgundy based on this concept. These delineations are some of the first examples of terroir, the idea that different physical locations can produce different wines. This complex system of classifying wines, along with the fact that Burgundy names their wines after the village or vineyard that they come from, can be very confusing to consumers. So now you can rest easy knowing that white Burgundy wine is just Chardonnay. The Burgundy region covers almost 70,000 acres, and is subdivided based almost entirely on two grapes, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. All of our wines here come from the Maconnais, which is at the southernmost tip of Burgundy, and also is the genetic birthplace of the Chardonnay grape. The grape was named after the village of Chardonnay, right here in the Maconnais. And of course, monks played a key role in developing this area as well. The Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, founded in the year 909, started the vineyards and their work made the region as we know it today. The region itself is small, only about 20 miles north to south, and unlike the northern part of Burgundy, it's much warmer and Mediterranean here. Founded in 1975, Domaine de la Denante is a small winery with about 30 acres in total. And like many of these smaller wineries in France, they're very humble and tight-lipped about what it is that they do, so you don't get a lot of information on the web. Now their vineyard is located in Davillé, it's one of seven villages of Saint-Véran, and it's located near the famous landmark pillars of Salut and Verguisson. And now that we know a little bit about Burgundy, the Maconnais, and the winery that makes these wines, let's taste them. Let's begin with this 2020 Saint-Véran from Domaine de la Denante. And the Saint-Véran region is part of the Maconnais but it's so far south that it actually used to be part of Beaujolais at one point. Saint-Véran Chardonnays are well known for being more full-bodied and also more age-worthy than the other Chardonnays from this region too. So with that let's take a swirl and a sniff. The nose has this kind of like what I would describe as a cold butter and cream kind of essence to it. That comes from aging the wine on the yeast known as sur lie aging. Then there's some lemon and passion fruit in there too. And the Chardonnay has kind of like a pungent funkiness to it too and I'm not exactly sure where that's coming from but that's unique for Chardonnay. And now my favorite part, let's drink this thing. Well, true to its reputation, it is full-bodied. It's very soft and round and creamy and it alternates between fresh crisp green apples and baked apples. And the finish is slightly tart and peppery, which tells me this may have been made with Chardonnay grapes that were slightly green or underripe. The French like to make their wines in what they consider to be a more naked style and this Saint-Père Ron shines straight through and gets right to the point. I love it. Let's taste this 2020 Pouilly-Fuissé from Domaine de la Denante. Pouilly-Fuissé wines are known for being some of the best in the Mâconnais and they're also known for being a little lighter in oak as well. It's a really intense floral wine and it's strong in peaches and also tropical fruit as well, melons in particular, and that tells me that this grew in either a warmer season or this region in particular is slightly warmer because the fruit is more ripe. All right, tasting time. That's another full-bodied Chardonnay, and it's refreshing and clean with predominant melon flavors in there, honeydew and cantaloupe to be specific. There's a slight nutty bitterness on the finish, and I think that comes from either oak barrel aging, or sometimes winemakers will actually crush the grapes along with some of the stems. And when you get those stems in the mix, they add a little bit of a tannic structure to the wine. Well, it seems like the monks of Burgundy had it right when they learned that different parcels of land in different areas of Burgundy How can we create wines with different character? And we can definitely taste that with this Pouilly-Fuissé here. All right, time to drink this 2020 Macan Village from Domaine de l'Adenant. And the term village is used when the grapes are sourced from different villages all around the region. Now, Mâcon Village tends to be the more affordable of the three wines that we have today, mostly because they're fermented in stainless steel and take less time to produce. And because I said affordable, that does not mean less quality. Quality. These wines are still made with a lot of diligence and care. All right, let's check out the aroma. And this wine has that creamy nose on it too, which probably comes from that surly aging we talked about. It's really peachy as well. Wow, that's really high in acid. It makes your lips tingle. It almost feels a bit bubbly at first because of that acid. It's also balanced out because it's got this weight, this viscosity. It's very rich. It's bursting with citrus peel, there's some peach, and there's an intense lemon meringue as well. This wine is a group effort between the villages of the Mâcon and Ancy-le-Franc, if that. I'm really impressed with the quality. Well, the monks of Burgundy had it right. You can see where these different parcels of land create wines that have their own special character. And now that we have the flavors of these wines dialed in, it's time to talk about food pairings. And again, I think any of these wines will work with any of these dishes, so we have some universal pairings here. All right, so for you fish lovers, we have red snapper with lemon butter sauce and capers. Acid is a flavor enhancer, and so is salt, and you'll find both respectively in the wine and the capers in this recipe. And butter is almost always a sure bet with a chardonnay, because chard can often have some buttery flavor elements too. And, for you vegetarians, we have a creamy avocado pasta. Cream dishes work well with light, acidic wines. The sharpness of the wine will counter the rich thickness of the cream sauce here. And, on the lighter side, and maybe for the warmer weather, we have a warm frisee salad with shrimp and lardons. Chardonnay is a classic partner for shellfish, especially lobsters, prawn, and shrimp. The saltiness of the lardons here will also wake up the palate, along with the acidity in the wine. Even with so much Chardonnay out there, it's really not that hard to find the best. You just have to go to the original source. With over 2,000 years of winemaking history, the hard work has already been done for you. That's the beauty of Burgundy. Thanks for joining me today. I hope you learned something, and I'll see you for another glass. Cheers!