2020 Now finished: MACON, ‘Nés a Chardonnay’, Les Enracinés. Burgundy

Made from the grape Chardonnay in the village of Chardonnay – a sub appellation within the Mâcon region in southern Burgundy. The vines grow specifically on a patch of limestone soil surnamed the “Dalle Nacrée” (Pearly Slab).

From a group of producers – “Terroirs et Talents – a commercial association of several family estates between Beaujolais and Mâconnais. Each estate retains its label and its identity and Terroirs et Talents sells the wines for each entity by favouring short circuits, wine merchants and restaurants, or small foreign distributors.”
The wine is made with minimal intervention in the vineyard and no added sulphites throughout winemaking.

Made without sulphur this is a true (and unusually good) example of a ‘natural wine’. By Chardonnay standards it’s fresh, light and delicate, but it doesn’t lack intensity and texture, with plenty of savoury complexity as well.