2019 Cave des Vignerons de Mancey Macon 750 ml

Burgundy’s venerated Côte d’Or is chock-full of sacred terroirs and marquee domaines. The Mâconnais, on the other hand, definitely is not. 

We see that as a VERY good thing, because when you buy a Chardonnay from the Mâconnais, which sits to the south of Burgundy’s most revered vineyard land, you’re not paying for a famous winemaker, a legendary label, or the prestige of a famous parcel. You’re paying for the wine in the bottle, period.

That’s exactly why savvy Chardonnay lovers know the region is ground zero for white-wine value, and when you taste the 2019 Cave des Vignerons de Mancey Mâcon, you’ll get it. 

Les Vignerons de Mancey was founded in 1929 and currently comprises 80 small winegrowers across eight villages around the town of Mancey in the northern Mâconnais. Mancey is surrounded by rolling green hills, roughly equidistant from Puligny-Montrachet and the storied limestone massifs of Pouilly-Fuissé in the south.

Wine writer Andrew Jefford once described the Mâconnais as “rumpled pastureland on which vines perch wherever a promising hill shows up,” also saying the wines “offer some of France's best white wine value.” We wholeheartedly agree. There’s a ray of golden sunshine in every bottle of Chardonnay from the Mâconnais. The combination of limestone-rich soils and a slightly warmer climate than in the Côte d'Or to the north helps give the wines a plump, juicy, charming profile that is closer to the California end of the Chardonnay spectrum.

Clean, fresh, and lively, with creamy and toasty notes that come from 100% malolactic fermentation—but not new oak—this is a remarkable Chardonnay value for weeknight consumption, the kind you want in your hand at the stove and all through dinner.