Amazing grace

2016 Mâcon-Chardonnay The fruit, oak and acidity of this wine are in delightful harmony – discreetly rich while retaining a clean, crisp finish.

Matthew Jukes
By
published
in Features

921_MW_P42_Wine

2016 Mcon-Chardonnay, Clos de la Crochette, Les Hritiers du Comte Lafon, Burgundy, France£22.50, Tanners, 01743-234455,Tanners-wines.co.uk

I was asked what my favourite white grape was the other day and I instantly replied chardonnay. I then felt a little sheepish at naming such an obvious choice. I suppose I drink more chardonnay than any other white grape. I certainly have more in my cellar, although riesling is not far behind.

I just cannot live my life without top flight Chablis, carefully picked Cte de Beaune stunners, lusty Adelaide Hills and Margaret River beauties, among others in Australia, and, importantly, the elite wines coming out of the Mconnais. If you can identify a handful of top producers in this part of the world, you will pay less and drink better than if you try to chance it in the Cte d'Or.

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Lafon is a titan in Meursault and the southerly outpost of this empire also makes thrilling wines. My featured single vineyard number is sublime. I cannot see why you would pay more when this smells and tastes like a wine which has a £50 price tag. The fruit, oak and acidity are in delightful harmony already discreetly rich while retaining a clean, crisp finish. Buy all you can because Clos de la Crochette will amaze you with its grace.

If you want to grab another unlikely hero, then Tanners also has 2016 Saint-Romain Alain Gras (£26.50) a mineral-soaked temptress. You can now tick this grape off your shopping list for the rest of the year.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).

Matthew Jukes
Matthew Jukes

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.  

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’.  He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner. 

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy.  His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.

 

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