Kelley’s dozen: great Mâcon white buys
Domaine GuffensHeynen, Tri de Chavigne, Mâcon- Pierreclos 2014 94 £ 30 Farr Vintners, Millésima Notes of melon, lemon oil, pastry cream and wheat toast lead into a glossy, expansive wine with beautiful acidity, a deep core rounded off with exceptional intensity and grip on the finish. Drink 2017-2025 Alcohol 13% Domaine de la Bongran, Cuvée EJ Thévenet, Viré- Clessé 2011 93 £ 21.36-£ 28.95 Georges Barbier, Lea & Sandeman A superb nose of honeycomb, buttered apples and field mushroom. Textural, intense; dimension and power with cool acids. Several years away from revealing all its potential.
Drink 2017-2030 Alc 14% Domaine La Soufrandière, Les Quarts, PouillyVinzelles 2015 93 £ 35 Berry Bros & Rudd, WoodWinters A beautiful wine this year. Poached pear, yellow citrus, and pastry cream; intense, complex, powerful palate with lovely depth and minerality. A low pH of 3.1, despite the warmth and ripeness of the year. Drink 2017-2025 Alc 13.5% Domaine Guerrin, Les Crays, Pouilly- Fuissé 2014 92 £ 23 Drinkmonger, Roberson Yellow orchard fruit, honeysuckle, pear and subtle hazelnut introduce a beautiful wine with lovely depth, good concentration and textural gloss balanced by great purity and cut. The new wood is already elegantly integrated. Drink 2017-2025 Alc 13%
Verget, Vigne de St- Claude, St-Véran 2015 92 £ 14.50 Farr Vintners, Harvey Nichols Beautifully vibrant in this
vintage, displaying a nose of lemon oil, white flowers and pastry cream. On the palate, it is full-bodied, very focused and linear with great minerality. It’s a 2015 which could pass for a 2014 blind. Drink 2017-2025 Alc 13% Château de Fuissé, Tête de Cru, Pouilly- Fuissé 2014 91 £ 23-£ 30 Gerrard Seel, Harrods, Jeroboams, OW Loeb, Private Cellar This is a very classic PouillyFuissé, with a nose of white flowers, confit citrus and smoke, introducing a textural, full-bodied wine with depth, acidity and persistence and good energy, despite its considerable volume. Drink 2017-2020 Alc 13%
Château des Rontets, Pierrefolle Pouilly- Fuissé 2013 91 £ 30 Berry Bros &
Rudd, WoodWinters Aromas of honey, orange blossom, tangerine oil and peach are followed by an open-knit, textural and intriguingly mineral wine, produced from an aromatic clone of Chardonnay growing on an east-facing outcropping of granite covered with little top soil: a singular wine from a singular site. Drink 2017-2020 Alc 13%
Domaine Pascal Bonhomme, Vieilles Vignes, Viré- Clessé 2014 91 N/A UK www. bonhomme-vire.fr
A youthfully reserved nose of pear, peach pit, wet stones and honeysuckle introduces a deep, concentrated wine that displays considerable structural depth along with amplitude and tension: this will be even better after a few years in the cellar to unwind and open up. Serious stuff. Drink 2017-2025 Alc 13% Olivier Merlin, Le Grand Bussière, St-Véran 2014 91 £ 25 Berry Bros & Rudd, WoodWinters Offers youthfully reserved aromas of lemon zest and pastry cream, offset by a top-note of spring flowers forming the prelude to an elegantly textural wine that displays zesty acidity, good grip and creditable depth. Drink 2017-2025 Alc 13% Domaine de la Tour Penet, MâconPéronne 2014 90 N/A UK +33 (0)3 85 36 90 78 Attractive bouquet of pear, pastry cream, nutmeg and jasmine. Supple, elegantly textured, underpinned by juicy acidity and finishing with good grip and cut. A lovely rendition. Drink 2017-2020 Alc 13% Domaine JA Ferret, Pouilly- Fuissé 2015 90 £ 29.50 Cheers, Great Western, Luvians, Partridges, Penistone Court, Philglas & Swiggot, Taurus, The Oxford Wine Co Ferret’s basic Pouilly- Fuissé bottling is excellent, leading with aromas of crisp green apples and white flowers, followed on the palate by brightiness, purity, fresh acidity and nicely intense fruit. Drink 2017-2020 Alc 13% Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon, Les Maranches, Mâcon- Uchizy 2014 89 £ 23.95 Berry Bros & Rudd A reserved, quite reductive nose featuring subtle notes of green apples and white flowers is followed by a taut, mediumbodied wine that puts the emphasis on minerality and acidity; a minimalist Mâcon. Drink 2017-2025 Alc 13%
For UK stockist details, see p97