Jean Thevenet consistently crafts some of the most ambitious wines in the Maconnais. His wines are anything but ordinary and express the ultimate commitment and passion he invests in each one. The Maconnais is a region south of Beaune, about half way to Lyon. It exists in the shadow of the more popular prestigious White Burgundy regions to the north. For the most part this lower status is deserved as it is dominated by large cooperatives and growers that generally under-perform. However there have been a number of well know White Burgundy producers such as Verget becoming very active in the region. The soils here tend to be very chalky and almost all of the white grapes are Chardonnay.
Domaine de la Bongran's wines range from fairly dry, the Cuvée Tradition, to boytrised late harvest wines with almost 15% residual sugar like the Cuvée Botrytisée. Thevenet makes his distinctive wines through very traditional methods including hand harvesting, using only natural yeasts, and harvests only ultra-ripe grapes. He uses no chemicals on his vines.
Thevenet's wine is labeled with the very generic Macon Villages designation. Although he is the most famous vigneron in the more prestigious Viré-Clessé appellation he is not permitted to use that designation because his wines lack the typicity of the region as defined by the Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (INAO). Per-Henrik Mansson of Wine Spectator wrote a pretty good article you can see here.
The 2001 is a shocking example of Chardonnay. I have tasted previous vintages of the Cuvée Tradition but this one broke the mold. I have never tasted anything like this wine!! It completely debased my wine senses. If points be given for individuality, I give this 100+. It is very intense, almost syrupy, with a bundle of butterscotch, very ripe pineapple extract, ripe pears, honey. This is all underlined by a sweet minerality and acidity that integrates well. No overwhelming new oak here. After two hours I still wasn't sure what to make of the wine. I may buy a case just to see what happens to this thing over the next 10-15 years. It will definitely last that long.
This defies a point score.
About $28 at BrownDerby.com
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Posted by: Burgundy Wine | March 30, 2009 at 10:30 AM