It’s been a very long time since we’ve been able to say this: today’s bottle of white Burgundy is one of the best values we’ve offered all year. Domaine Perraud’s Mâcon-Villages Vielles Vignes is a throwback to the Burgundy of yesteryear, a reminder of what the region was like before Burgundy pricing went haywire. It’s got everything we look for in white Burg–ample orchard fruit, chiseled minerality, site-specific nuance, rich texture married to bristling structure–and it’s only $25 a bottle. It’s got pedigree, hailing as it does from a special parcel of old vines; it’s got serious terroir, coming from one of the Mâcon’s most celebrated sites, and it’s got exclusivity, being the only wine the Perraud family puts in bottle, special for their California importer. Despite the fact that seemingly every elite Burgundy winemaker has started working here, there are apparently still undiscovered gems left in the Mâcon. If ever there was some white Burgundy to go in on a case of, this is it!
We’ve seen a renewed interest in the Mâcon, Burgundy’s southern stretch, over the past decade or so. It’s no wonder why, with prices in the Côte d’Or rising ever higher, but the truth is that Burgundy aficionados have long known that the Mâcon is capable of greatness. The soils are a clay-limestone mixture similar to the Côte d’Or’s, but the region’s more open and flatter vineyards have historically produced wines that emphasize fruit and early drinking. In a few special spots, though, the wines can really scale the heights, and that’s what we’ve got today. Perraud’s Vielles Vignes bottling is sourced from the lieu-dit “La Grand Burette,” a special site situated at higher elevations, where the terroir is especially dominated by limestone. The resulting wine marries the open and ample fruit we love in Mâcon wines with a tangy smack of minerality you don’t see often down here.
It takes a skilled grower and winemaker to coax the serious side of the Mâcon out; a grower like Thomas Perraud. Viticulture is really all Thomas does. While he farms over 12 hectares, today’s Mâcon-Villages Vielles Vignes is the only cuvée he actually bottles, and that at the special request of his importer. He sells the rest of his production off to the local co-operative. Thomas is focused on farming his vines, not on cultivating an international reputation. But what he puts in bottle he makes sure is his best–not just from his most prized lieu-dit but also a selection of older vines, ranging from thirty to fifty years. Everything gets hand-harvested, then pressed whole cluster and fermented spontaneously in stainless steel. It ages for a year in a mix of steel and very old, very neutral barrel, then is bottled unfined and unfiltered for maximum complexity.
Typically we’d recommend drinking a wine of Perraud’s complexity out of a Burgundy bowl, but let’s be real–at $25 a bottle, this is just as likely to get opened as a Wednesday night aperitif, so treat it however you like. The depth and complexity will be on full display no matter what. The nose sings with creamed apple flesh, pear skin, lemon zest, hazelnuts, toasted bready notes, and scintillating sea spray minerality. On the palate, Vielles Vignes is ample and medium-full, emphasizing the fruit tones before a wave of pulsing acid and crushed rock flavors come through for maximum refreshment. It’s fantastic pop-and-pour white Burg right now, and it’s perfect either on its own or alongside an elaborate meal. We even wager it’ll develop nicely for a few years in your cellar, so be sure to stock up. And at this price, you can afford to!
