(Anything But) Chardonnay

It is the weekend of the Saint Vincent Tournante here.  Every year a village hosts the event and lots of people turn up, drink wine and have a nice time.  It's one of the bigger events here and this year it was hosted by Macon.  Not a village at all, more of a city but it's the first time it's been hosted outside the Cote d'Or and so it is centred on Macon with supporting roles from the villages Pierreclos and Chardonnay.  Yes, the village the grape is named after.

Not a very original photo perhaps but as a wine 'amateur' it's kind of cool to visit a place that gave its name to one of the most ubiquitous grape varieties in the world.  It's a pretty little village by the way, in rolling hills that are only about a third covered in vineyards, which is quite low around here.  Anyway, the tastings were limited to 11 special cuvees prepared by the committee to demonstrate the Maconnais terroir.  My favourites were the '07 Macon Villages white which had a lovely semi-tropical fruit nose and excellent palate weight, nice ripe fruit and a minerality that carried through the whole affair.  The other good white was the '07 Macon Verze, from the village Verze, quite ripe nose but a lovely tight palate despite the evident malo impact.

The reds were nice and fresh, Gamay is the grape of choice around here (around 80%) but there is approximately 8% Pinot so you never know your luck.  The favourite reds were the '06 Macon Aze which was light, red fruity and tight as a whip.  The '07 Macon Mancey was a cracker though, really quite a fine almost Pinot like nose of red fruits and subtle complexing pepper and mineral.  Palate was fairly acidic but crunchy red fruits, a little speculoos biscuit and quite a long cherry skin finish.

All in all a lovely day with the usual side shows of music, tractors, blacksmiths and food.  The most entertaining of which was the spot where you could try your hand at miniature dry stone construction, I was very proud of the bridge below entirely constructed by me (with a little help from my 4 year old daughter).