Some years ago a friend, Gary, let me into his white wine buying secret. He felt he had come up with a reliable method to select a white wine that would be pleasing to drink, meet his expectations consistently and not cost too much.
His advice? Just look for the words Macon Villages on the label. Surely it can't be that simple? Macon is a town in the South of Burgundy that gives its name to the Maconnais, the surrounding district, which has a huge number of producers making 42 million bottles of white wine every year.
Ah, but wait, that's total production. The 'villages' suffix can be applied only to wines made from grapes grown in the better sites around certain named villages. This dramatically cuts the total to 16 million bottles a year. So Gary was probably on to something, but I wanted to improved the odds and chose:
Week M (2015) Louis Jadot, Les Roches Blanches, Macon Villages. 2012 Majestic £8.99
How does this improve the odds of choosing a wine I might enjoy, I hear you ask? (Oh, go on, play the game. I'm not making you read this rubbish.)
Louis Jadot does produce vast quantities of wine, but it is a business based on a long history and a reputation for quality. Buying in grapes from all across Burgundy and selling wines under their own label gives them access to, and control over, products from all levels of the Burgundian hierarchy, from Le Montrachet at the top, to supermarket favourites and everyday tipples at the other end.
This wine sits above the bottom end, but is not anywhere close to the prized and prohibitively expensive stars.
It is, like almost all white wine from the region, made exclusively with Chardonnay. The fabulous, versatile and flavoursome recent victim of the fashion police, who stupidly think that anything this popular can't be any good.
So, is it? Well yes it is. It is bright and shiny, with mid-lemon yellow hues, smells like a cockney reference to a flight of stairs and is refreshing without having the sometimes too aggressive acidity of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
I opened this one my sister and The One, both of whom commented favourably, which I hadn't necessarily expected. Perhaps in its favour is the fact that this wine has not spent any time in oak barrels and, therefore, retains a fruity freshness that some white Burgundy tempers with the softer, buttery creaminess that I like, but is perhaps the reason for the fashion police's disapproval, more fool them.
For me this wine is a reminder that whilst my explorations continue to reveal new and interesting options, sometimes the obvious and reliable is both easier and more enjoyable. This is a banker. Well done, Gary.
His advice? Just look for the words Macon Villages on the label. Surely it can't be that simple? Macon is a town in the South of Burgundy that gives its name to the Maconnais, the surrounding district, which has a huge number of producers making 42 million bottles of white wine every year.
Ah, but wait, that's total production. The 'villages' suffix can be applied only to wines made from grapes grown in the better sites around certain named villages. This dramatically cuts the total to 16 million bottles a year. So Gary was probably on to something, but I wanted to improved the odds and chose:
Week M (2015) Louis Jadot, Les Roches Blanches, Macon Villages. 2012 Majestic £8.99How does this improve the odds of choosing a wine I might enjoy, I hear you ask? (Oh, go on, play the game. I'm not making you read this rubbish.)
Louis Jadot does produce vast quantities of wine, but it is a business based on a long history and a reputation for quality. Buying in grapes from all across Burgundy and selling wines under their own label gives them access to, and control over, products from all levels of the Burgundian hierarchy, from Le Montrachet at the top, to supermarket favourites and everyday tipples at the other end.
This wine sits above the bottom end, but is not anywhere close to the prized and prohibitively expensive stars.
It is, like almost all white wine from the region, made exclusively with Chardonnay. The fabulous, versatile and flavoursome recent victim of the fashion police, who stupidly think that anything this popular can't be any good.
So, is it? Well yes it is. It is bright and shiny, with mid-lemon yellow hues, smells like a cockney reference to a flight of stairs and is refreshing without having the sometimes too aggressive acidity of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
I opened this one my sister and The One, both of whom commented favourably, which I hadn't necessarily expected. Perhaps in its favour is the fact that this wine has not spent any time in oak barrels and, therefore, retains a fruity freshness that some white Burgundy tempers with the softer, buttery creaminess that I like, but is perhaps the reason for the fashion police's disapproval, more fool them.
For me this wine is a reminder that whilst my explorations continue to reveal new and interesting options, sometimes the obvious and reliable is both easier and more enjoyable. This is a banker. Well done, Gary.
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