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Guillemot-Michel, Viré-Clessé “Quintaine”

Burgundy, France 2016 (750mL)
$38.00
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Guillemot-Michel, Viré-Clessé “Quintaine”

I’ll admit it: It took me some time to realize that being a good sommelier means discerning what the customer wants, not what you think they need. Today’s exuberant Viré-Clessé is a great reminder, because it is unquestionably what people want—full-throated Chardonnay deliciousness from Burgundy.
This is not austere, intellectual, ‘lay it down for 20 years’ white Burgundy; it’s ‘drink it now/soon’ white Burgundy with a bold personality and a mild price. It’s exactly what we look to the Mâcon region for: Chardonnay of a plumper, bigger-boned sort, yet one with enough acidity and minerality to refresh the palate and partner seamlessly with food. If you ordered this wine in a Paris bistro and drank it with some roast chicken or maybe a butter-drizzled piece of sole, you’d be in absolute heaven. That’s the scene we conjured when we tasted this 2016 at SommSelect, and as we learned more about Guillemot-Michel, our appreciation for the wine only deepened: This is a small, family-run property that has farmed biodynamically since 1991, and, in the case of today’s wine, employs no oak in the wine’s fermentation/aging. “Quintaine” is a pure and powerful expression of Mâconnais Chardonnay at its best, so grab as much as you can. I don’t just think you’ll like it. You need it!
Situated between the appellation’s namesake villages of Viré and Clessé, the town of Quintaine is the Guillemot family’s home base and where most of its seven hectares of vineyards are located. This “Quintaine” bottling has been the estate’s flagship since Pierrette (Michel) and Marc Guillemot, both trained enologists, began producing wines in 1985, from vineyards that had been in Pierrette’s family. The couple have since been joined by their daughter, Sophie, and her husband, Gautier Roussille, in both the vineyards and cellar, producing critically acclaimed wines from vines averaging 55-60 years of age.

The Viré-Clessé AOC was created in 1998; previously, the two villages were among the best of the assorted communes classified as Mâcon-Villages, with the wines labeled either Mâcon-Viré or Mâcon-Clessé. Today, the appellation is comprised of two ridges along a north-south orientation, with the best vineyards facing east/southeast, as in the Côte de Beaune further north. The soils are the typical Burgundian mix of clay and limestone, and include an especially white, pebbly type of limestone known in the Mâcon as cray. As its name implies, “Quintaine” is a cuvée (blend) of grapes from the family’s assorted vineyard parcels in the village. The wine is fermented and aged in concrete vessels only, which I think is a key contributor (along with the ripe 2016 vintage) to the wine’s luscious texture. Whether white or red, I find that wines vinified in concrete display fewer sharp edges; the freshness from acidity is there, but it is couched in cashmere-soft texture.

Within a few minutes of opening this 2016, it aims to please: It’s a deep yellow-gold in the glass, with flecks of straw and silver at the rim, with explosive aromas of ripe yellow apple, pear, a hint of mango, acacia blossoms, wildflower honey, rising bread dough, and wet stones. The wine underwent a full malolactic fermentation (wherein sharper malic acid is converted into milder lactic acid), so there’s a detectable creaminess/toastiness that is not, as I noted above, derived from aging in oak. This is all about old-vine concentration—it doesn’t miss the oak one bit, and it’s got good backbone for aging over the short term (I’d say 3-5 years, but I also can’t wait to open my next bottle of this). Pull the cork on this delicious and satisfying white about 15-30 minutes before serving in all-purpose whites or, for a more hedonistic experience, larger red Burgundy bowls. Let the temperature creep up past 50 degrees and serve it with your failsafe roast chicken recipe, whichever that may be. I’ve attached mine, which I’ll likely be cooking tonight—the need is too strong to ignore!
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Country
France
Region
Burgundy
Sub-Region
FranceMâconnais—Viré-Clessé
Soil
Limestone & Clay
Farming
Organic & Biodynamic (Certified)
Blend
Chardonnay 100%
Alcohol
13.0
OAK
None
TEMP.
50-55
Glassware
All-Purpose Whites / Burgundy
Drinking
Now-2022
Decanting
Optional
Pairing
Roast Chicken

France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

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