2019 Maison Valette Mâcon-Chaintré Vieilles Vignes

WINEMAKER: Philippe Valette
REGION: Burgundy, FR
VARIETAL: Chardonnay
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic 

"Since 2015 this wine is vinified and bottled without sulfur, Valette's Mâcon-Chaintré Vieilles Vignes responds well to oxygen—in fact, it's best decanted. I have followed this wine over several days where the fruit fans out and the latent minerality becomes more profound. The 2019 opens in the glass with aromas of citrus and orchard fruit with a lovely floral lift. The wine is medium to full-bodied and has a powerful presence yet is only moderate in alcohol and has lively acids, superb purity and a long, sapid finish. This is an excellent vintage for the Valette's Mâcon-Chaintré that exemplifies the last two decades of reflection and evolution at this estate. This wine will age effortlessly in a good cellar and provide many years of pleasure." - Andrew Guard

The domain was created in 1977, when Gérard Valette was one of the first in the area to leave the local cooperative and start bottling his own wine. After completing wine training, son Philippe joined in 1990 and then decided to convert the family's vineyards to organic farming, using biodynamic methods since 1992. The Valette's are known for their specific style, wines raised with thorough lees-contact and without racking. They have remained true to this style of winemaking since the 1950s. It is a sort of family-tradition that requires accuracy as well as painstaking detail knowledge of the indigenous yeasts and the wine’s proneness to develop reductive flavors. Again, an art.