(2024) Ageing in 500-litre oak barrels for this Chardonnay from d'Etroyes' clay and limestone soils gives plenty of vanilla and honey on the nose, but the fruit beneath is cool and lemony. In the mouth really nice punch of lime and tart Seville orange fruit and acid, smoothed by the oatmeal touch of barrel, but really nice balance, and length, with the finish showing a light spiciness and plenty of acidic verve. No UK retail stockist listed at time of review.
(2024) Another very nicely judged Chardonnay, matured in barrels for about 11 months, on the lees. Quite a golden colour, but again the oak adds just a shimmer of buttery toast and almond. There's some delicate spice and quite nutty peach and apple. Fine juiciness, mouthwatering citrus and a fine, delicate line of spice and toast, savoury yet sweet and refined, a very nice balance into a long finish.
(2024) From various linestone-rich terroirs of the Mâconnais, this is made without the addition of sulphur at any stage. It has a natural wine feel, stony, creamy and lightly earthy and spicy aromas, rather than anything overtly fruity. The palate too is dry, like apple cores rather than sweet flesh, yet there is juiciness here too. The texture is quite creamy and rich and the finish clean and fresh. An interesting wine, unlike most conventional Mâcon Chardonnay, but intriguing and food-friendly. I'd be thinking chicken with tarragon or morels perhaps.
(2024) From a fifth-generation family vineyard on limestone and iron-rich clay soils, this is pure and unoaked Chardonnay. What a delightful wine it is, with enough of a mealy, almondy sheen from time on the lees (I presume), and a creaminess to the texture. The palate walks a lovely liberty between richness and freshness. It's clean and crisp, but that sense of roundness - a bit of fat on its bones - is lovely.
(2023) Old vines here, up to 60 years old, planted on clay and limestone. Fermentation and ageing in tank. A crisp and elegantly and gently spicy lemon character, very little barrel influence apparent, it has a straightforward but ripe citrus character finishing with a pithy lemon freshness.
(2022) From old vines grown in Petit Chablis, an area on the edge of the main Chablis vineyards, not enjoying the famous Kimmeridgean soils, but still capable of producing excellent wines in the right hands - like this one. It's a surprisingly vivacious and tangy rendition of Chardonnay, almost with echoes of a Sauvignon Blanc from the nearby St Bris appellation. racy, with notes of passion fruit and guava, it is nimble and has plenty of zip and verve.
(2022) Like the Fox Run, this is unoaked and has around 12.5% alcohol. Greengage and lemon notes, not a lot of flint to the aromas of this Chablis, the palate similar to the Fox Run in a way, with that suggestion of orchard fruit sweetness swept up in a lemony, pithy and salty acid structure. There's perhaps a hint of more roundness here. pH: 3.3, Acidity: 7.4g/l, RS: less than 2g/l.
Not in the UK at present, this has an RRP of 16€ in France.
(2022) Lugny is in the most southerly part of the Mâconnais, with vineyards at 235-380m on limestone soils. 100% Chardonnay, made without oak. There's a hint of flint and wet river stones to this, the fruit between nutty apple and lime. In the mouth it's sharply defined by pithy lemon acidity, running through a slightly broader apple mid-palate.