An area of lovely, charming wines

6:21am Friday 8th August 2008

If I could have my first ever trip to Burgundy again, I wouldn't head for the famed vineyards of the Côtes de Nuits or the Côtes de Beaune, instead I would drive south and begin in the Mâconnais.

It's a beautiful area. where the undulating pastureland is scattered with vineyards planted with mainly Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Gamay.

In short, it's not a region that's uniquely fixated on vine-growing and wine-making, and I rather like the more convivial atmosphere that you find here. More importantly though, this is an area that's capable of making charming wines, and I think it ought to be more firmly on the wine-drinkers' radar.

I don't want to dismiss the red wines of the Mâcon because these Gamay-driven reds can be lovely, and tastings suggest that quality is steadily improving. For me though, the real treats are the white wines.

Being just that bit further south, the Mâcon vineyards benefit from a slightly warmer climate than those in the Côte d'Or, and this gives the Chardonnay grapes more volume and appealing up-front fruit.

What's less well-known is that small quantities of Pinot Blanc are grown here, and this can also help fill out the wines and give them a truly appealing quality.

Given that vineyards are typically small and often part of a family small-holding, that includes other crops, it's not surprising that the cooperatives have a major role to play here.

A well-managed cooperative - such as Cave de Prissé - with the right people and equipment are instrumental in bringing more rural wine regions, such as the Mâconnais to our attention.

Another factor in the continuing improvement in this area has been the arrival of some big names in the last decade.

Attracted, no doubt, be cheaper land prices and the potential of the wines, Dominique Lafon bought an estate here back in 1999. They were clearly pleased with the results, because four years later, they increased their vineyard holdings. It might take time, but the arrival of such talent does serve to inspire better wine-making across the board, and ultimately we all win.

Mâcon-Villages wines are acknowledged to be where the wines become that bit more sophisticated. Lugny and Prissé are amongst the twenty-six villages to have individual appellation contrôlée status, and are included in The Oxford Times Wine Club mixed case this week. Lugny is particularly well known for its good-value, fruit-forward wines.

Of course, I can jump up and down all day about the merits of the wines of the Mâconnais, but it won't make any difference at all if the great wine-drinking public can't be persuaded to drink Chardonnay.

In the totally incomprehensible world of wine fashion', Chardonnay is still reviled by an astonishing number of people. I would almost be sympathetic, except that far too many folk are ditching this perfectly wonderful grape for some much less attractive options.

I had lunch with a chum this week, and I'd ordered myself a glass of very delicious Burgundian Chardonnay. "Oh no! You're not having Chardonnay! And you call yourself a wine-writer".

So, I asked the lovely waiter to bring us the wines, and not tell us which was which. Nasty me; I put my buddy on the spot and asked him to pick the one he preferred.

You know I wouldn't be writing this if it hadn't gone my way, so I'll finish up by telling you that there's at least one more person to have rediscovered Chardonnay. Now all they have to do is go shopping for some lovely Mâcon.

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