It’s no secret that the world of wine has its share of snobbery. Self-appointed wine aficionados and bona-fide experts often like nothing better than to cast their discerning gaze over the contents of a wine glass, determining whether the tipple meets their exacting standards.
But while those who know a thing or two about wine may have some valid points to make when offering advice about which white wine to choose, there is no shortage of would-be experts who like to criticise the white wine taste of others, without being fully in-the-know themselves.
Whilst certain white wines receive almost universal praise, others are somewhat off the radar in terms of wine enthusiasts’ opinions. But while there are certain white wines that really are without merit, others escape wine buffs’ attention simply because they have fallen out of fashion, or were never fashionable in the first place.
One white wine that continually escapes many wine buyers’ attention is White Burgundy, which is often dismissed by white wine experts as inappropriately expensive. Whilst its red counterpart is the preferred tipple of many a wine enthusiast, white Burgundy does not top many people’s dream wine list. But while there are more than a few white Burgundies with a steep price tag not matched by a similarly high quality, there are more affordable bottles out there with a quality which outstrips the unassuming price tag. The key to seeking out good value white Burgundy is to look at those white wine regions which have not yet been praised to the high heavens in wine publications.
One such region is Maconnais, which lies between the more celebrated regions of Tournus and Macon, slightly west of the beautiful Saone river.
The rolling hills and pastures, roaming Charolais cattle and peaceful pace of life hide a multitude of wine villages, many of which are only just beginning to realise their full potential. The serenity and beautiful scenery, combined with the relative obscurity of the area, make this an excellent location for an off-the-beaten-track wine tour, although wine lovers hoping to explore the region will need to have access to a car, as the wine villages are dotted around rather erratically!
The chief composite of Burgundy is of course the well-travelled Chardonnay grape, and there are some fine ‘Chardonnay’-labelled wines – as opposed to Burgundies – emerging from the region.
Chardonnay itself is another wine that tends to be spoken of in less than glowing terms in certain wine circles. Once beloved of white wine aficionados the world over, today it is more synonymous with WAGs and hen parties than with sophisticated social gatherings.
Chardonnay can in fact be considered a victim of its own success; as this drinkable white wine increasingly found favour with a young, principally female market. It began to crop up on the wine lists of virtually every bar and restaurant in the UK and in turn became something of a byword for uninspired and unimaginative wine buying.
But while snootier types may turn their noses up at the mere mention of Chardonnay, it would be a shame to tar all bottles of this centuries-old wine with the same ‘mass-market’ brush.
The Chardonnay grape is one of the most adaptable around and as such has travelled well across the wine-drinking world. While all of them share Chardonnay’s principal characteristics, the Chardonnays of different countries all have markedly different accents. The Chardonnays of Argentina‘s increasingly well-regarded Mendoza wine region, for example, will deliver a very different drinking experience from those of Australia, while a South African Chardonnay will vary considerably from its relatives over in California.
But let’s head back a little closer to Chardonnay’s original home and the Maconnais region. The Macon villages bask in a climate that is warmer than the more widely-recognised villages of the nearby Cote de Beaune and as such the Chardonnay white wine grapes of the region are noticeably plumper and fleshier than their neighbours. This produces a fresh, fruity yet full bodied wine that sells for prices far more attractive than the Chardonnays of neighbouring French wine regions.
The wine villages of the Macon region are myriad, with over 40 villages boasting the right to hyphenate the region’s name with their own on their bottles of wine. Among the names to watch are Macon-Verze and Macon-Cleese, both of which are producing excellent Chardonnays at very appealing prices. Along with Vire, Clesse was given its own wine appellation at the tail end of the 1990s and its star looks set to rise in the next few years, so snap up some bottles now if you want to beat the rush and inevitable increase in prices.
Image by Megan Mallen.
