Domaine Valette

Wine of The Right Now: Macon-Chaintre NV

Name: Wine of The Right Now: Macon-Chaintre NV
Brand: Domaine Valette
SKU: VALETTEmaconchaintreNV
Price: 67.0 USD
Availability: InStock

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YEAR: Nonvintage ;)
GRAPE VARIETY: Chardonnay
REGION: Burgundy
WHY WE LIKE IT: Putting it on record: I love reductive wines. I love the flinty, burnt smudges that open up in the glass to soft fruits over time. I love how smoke dissipates into aromatic gems you could easily miss if you deny the wine its time to open up. I don't have much patience, but I do treasure a revelation. The latter tends to command the former, and Maison Valette has demonstrated experience on both sides. I don't usually open Burgundy after getting home from a long shift at 11pm on a weeknight, but the Valette Mâcon-Chaintré felt like the friend I needed at the time.

From the Chaintré village sitting between Mâcon and Beaujolais, Philippe Valette organically farms Chardonnay plots. Since the '90s, Philippe has established himself as an expert in organic farming on this side of Burgundy; not without struggle, and not without a sharp intuition for how to use old oak to extend the beauty of his farming and winemaking. (And not without his bottles generally being spirited away through allocations and Burgundy collectors.)

Then climate change took its ravaging and present hold on Burgundy, resulting in fewer natural yeasts lounging around the estate and stuck fermentations in Philippe's tanks year after year. The revelation came, though, as it always does: The team eventually decided to add must from new harvests to the old tanks to kickstart the fermentations, thus finishing as a non-vintage wine.

It's humility, patience, and hope like the team at Valette holds that makes this wine so special. The flinty edge on this wine gives way to tart apples, streaks of green ribbons, and this layer of mineral craveability that I literally couldn't get enough of. This one is special, and I hope you'll be patient with it and enjoy the revelation as it uncoils in your glass, too.

- Alexya

Wine of The Right Now: Macon-Chaintre NV

Wine of The Right Now: Macon-Chaintre NV

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