Domaine Valette Vieilles Vignes Mâcon-Chaintré

Domaine Valette Vieilles Vignes Mâcon-Chaintré is a single-variety Chardonnay from the AOC Mâcon-Chaintré in southern Burgundy, made in a natural, organic and vegan style. Rather than carry a single vintage, it blends three years, 2018, 2020 and 2021, drawn from vines over sixty-five years old whose deep roots and low yields give concentrated, complex fruit. The Mâconnais sits on limestone and clay-limestone soils that lend Chardonnay its minerality and firm acidity, while the warmer southern position of the Mâcon ripens the grape to a fuller, orchard-fruit register than the Côte d'Or. The wine ferments with its indigenous yeasts, then ages with around 80 percent in oak barrel and the rest in stainless steel, a long, low-intervention élevage on lees that builds a rich, savoury and nutty texture through slow oxidation and autolysis, and it is bottled without fining or filtration. The colour is deep gold. The nose shows ripe pear and apple, with honey, beeswax and a toasted, hazelnut depth. The palate is broad and textured, the fruit and oxidative complexity carried by clear acidity to a long, dry finish. Serve at 12 to 13 degrees in a large Burgundy glass.