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Wine Review: Macon-Villages Taste Off!

chris wrote this on March 14, 2009

Ok I guess now I get the francophile label for going right back to France after the 10 yr tawny battle. Though, in my defense, white Burgundy is one of the most underrated wines on the market and definitely deserves more attention.

The wines up for this week’s review:

2006 Macon-Vinzelles “Les Morandes” Domanie Tripoz

$17 @ Wine Authorities in Durham

2006 Collovray & Terrier Mâcon-Villages Domaine des Deux Roches at Davaye Tradition

$18 @ The Wine Merchant, Cary location

Those of you familiar with the movie “Sideways” know that the star of the movie is the Pinot Noir grape, but before it was a star in America it was (and still is) the classic red grape of Burgundy, France. What you might not know is that the star of white Burgundy is the Chardonnay grape.

And while there are many different sub-regions of Burgundy producing many styles and quality of Chardonnay wines, this review focuses on wines from the Macon region, situated around the city of Macon, called the Maconnais by the native Burgundians.

According to French wine laws, superior quality wines from the Maconnais may be labeled as Macon-Villages or they may append Macon with one of 26 actual village names to distinguish its origin. Our wine from Wine Authorities does the latter, appending its name with the village of Vinzelles. The Collovray & Terrier from The Wine Merchant in Cary chooses the the more generic Macon-Villages designation. Note that while appending Macon wines with a village name should be an indication of greater quality, it is in practice only an indication of where the grapes have been sourced.

First up was the Macon-Vinzelles from Wine Authorities, billed as  the “purest, cleanest expression of Chardonnay unfettered by oak aging nor man-made chemicals of any sort (the vineyards are entirely organic [biodynamic even!])”.

Style & Quality: C. I was very disappointed in this wine, being thin, watery, and disjointed. It was lighter in color which can be normal for wines that see no time in oak. The nose offers a lot of promise; fresh cut limes and wet river stones with a hint of damp moss. But then the wine literally assaults your palate, first with a left hook of over the top minerality, followed by an uppercut of mouth-puckering, sour lemon peel acidity. Then it just fades into a watered down, weak lemon flavor, like squeezing a lemon wedge into the water they bring you at Applebee’s. I think I visibly flinched when I first drank this wine and my facial expressions didn’t get much better as I finished the bottle.

Value: B-. $17 is actually a pretty good deal for a village appended Macon but this wine delivers $10 quality max. The expensive wines of Chablis are known for eschewing oak and retaining a sharp mineral character and I would rather pay the $35+ price tag because they get it right.

Overall Rating: C+. Now don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy the crisp mineral quality of un-oaked Chardonnay but in this case I think a bit of oak or some malolactic fermentation would have done the wine some good.

Up next was the Macon-Villages from the Wine Merchant in Cary:

Style & Quality: B+. This is a good bottle of white Burgundy. Apples and mineral on the nose with a hint of peach. Maybe some floral notes as well. Light bodied and very easy drinking with subtle flavors of apple, apple skin, peach, and wet stone. Malolactic fermentation gives beautiful hints of cream, honey, and especially butterscotch. Its lighter style keeps it from breaking into the A’s but that is nothing for this wine to be ashamed of.

Value: B+. At $18 its On the high side for a Macon-Villages but still reasonable. Sell it for $15 a bottle and it jumps into the A’s for value as well.

Overall Rating: B+. A very nice example of white Burgundy as well as a terrific example of what a little malolactic fermentation can do for Chardonnay- toned down minerality and sour acidity while adding butterscotch notes and a softer texture.

Its unfair to choose an overall winner based on style and quality alone since these wines were two examples of different styles from the same region and variety. In this case, I have to choose the wine that delivers the best quality for the price…

Overall Winner:

2006 Collovray & Terrier Mâcon-Villages Domaine des Deux Roches at Davaye Tradition

Until the next wine!- Chris

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