Burgundy Wine Review: Good Affordable White Burgundy
December 10th, 2009
I had the privilege of being invited to lunch this month by the French Ambassador to meet with two visiting French winemakers – Jean-Philippe and Jean-Guillaume Bret – from Mâcon in Southern Burgundy.
The Bret brothers are savvy international marketers who combine very traditional vineyard practices (including horse drawn soil tilling) with modern winemaking technology to make a fantastic range of wines. Most of the wines are certified organic/biodynamic.
At lunch we were served a range of wines – all from the 2007 vintage. They were largely made in the same style – barrel fermented in aged French oak, though one was predominantly fermented and aged in stainless steel. All were made from Chardonnay. Each wine was very different, reflecting vine age, and different soil and climatic factors. It was a great education on Southern Burgundy. Most importantly each wine was excellent. The Bret brothers wines are now available in New Zealand and most are quite affordable. They begin at around the $35 mark for an interesting blend of three different village wines
One step up at around $39 is Mâcon-Uchizy Climat La Martine. This is made from vines 50+ years in age and it has been fermented and aged in aged (not new) French oak barrels for 11 months. Uchizy is one of the most northern most of the vineyards the Bret brothers source wines from and this shows in the wine.
The soil is a mixture of clay and limestone and this too is apparent in the rich flavours and minerality of the wine. The wine also displayed a mixture of peach and lemon on the palate. This was a really satisfying complex wine at an affordable price. It is a style that NZ winemakers should take note of – good fruit, restrained oak influence and mineral character. The Bret brothers also have an excellent website
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