2017 SAINT VÉRAN La Fournaise Domaine Frantz Chagnoleau, Lea & Sandeman

SAINT VÉRAN

2022 La Fournaise Domaine Frantz Chagnoleau

IN STOCK
Grapes Chardonnay
Colour White
Origin France, Burgundy
District Mâconnais
Village Saint Véran
ABV 13%
Vineyard La Fournaise

This has wonderful bite and bounce. Quite a busy complex palate – ripe, beautiful, complete fruit. A real pertness to the fruit. Super delicious and balanced, bags of energy, gorgeous. You can see why this is Frantz’s favourite. Just 12.4% Alcohol this year.
An amazing, east facing plateau, 50 year-old vineyard. The earth here has lots of white stones on the surface - then 30cm of earth then straight into the hard limestone bedrock. This is his ‘whitest’ soil Frantz has - its quite high too above Montchanins at 350m. He harvests this in the afternoon having done Monchanins in the morning. No new wood here. L&S (Nov 2023)

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La Fournaise has meagre soil on white limestone, and has been made in demi-muids from Stockinger. Mid lemon and lime with a more qualitative note, summer flowers alongside the fruit. There is a fleshy finish, which will become waxy later on. A cuvee with personality. Drinking range: 2025 - 2027 Rating: **** Jasper Morris - Inside Burgundy  (Mar 2024)

Certified organic. Open aroma of pears and a touch dusty/mineral. Ripe-fruited with clementine fruit and pith on the palate. Straightforward but with notable fruit intensity on the mid palate. (JH) Drinking range: 2025 - 2028 Rating: 16.5 Julia Harding MW, www.JancisRobinson.com (Feb 2024)

The 2022 Saint-Véran La Fournaise comes from a warmer micro-climate on white soils with active limestone that paradoxically tends to ripen a bit later. Aged in two demi-muids, this is a little more bashful on the nose, possibly due to some recent sulphur addition, but it opens nicely in the glass. The palate is well balanced with a lovely rondeur, fine acidity and citrus lemon mixed with orange rind toward the linear finish. Very fine. Drinking range: 2025 - 2038 Rating: 90-92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jun 2023)

Domaine Frantz Chagnoleau

Frantz Chagnoleau and his wife Caroline Gon, who was until 2022 also the winemaker at the Comte Lafon Mâcon operation, are rising stars of the Mâconnais. Together they have a small domaine consisting of 3.5 hectares of Mâcon in a single block in Saint Albain, and several small plots in Viré Clessé, Saint Véran and Pouilly Fuissé, making up 6.8 hectares in total. All the vineyards are organically farmed (Ecocert certified).

Great care is taken at harvest to pick at the optimum moment for sugars, acidity and aromatic precursors, and they will stop the picking between parcels if they think that the ripening is not even across the whole domaine. Grapes are manually picked into 25kg cases, so as to get whole, undamaged grapes to the winery. After careful pressing, a very non-interventionist vinification takes place with natural yeasts in oak foudres or 600l demi-muids and a few traditional 225l pièces, with no new wood.

The wines are kept on the lees to preserve freshness until the beginning of summer, when they are racked and lightly filtered, before bottling before the next harvest, except for some of the top wines which are aged for another six months in tank in order to develop fully. The wines are in a style which is bright and incisive, expressive and pure - and well worth seeking out.

2025 THE COMPLETE CHRISTMAS MIXED CASE

Let's be honest, pairing wine with the beautiful chaos of Christmas dinner is a bit of a nightmare. You’ve got the smoked salmon, then the turkey (or beef, or goose), the mountain of veg, the cheese board, and then the flaming pudding. It's a minefield of flavours.
This year, forget the stress. We’ve built The Complete Christmas Case, a 12-bottle 'job done' box with the perfect, curated wine for every single moment.
This is your Christmas dinner, sorted:
The Welcome: Get the party started with two brilliant grower Champagnes. Pop the charming Gonet-Médeville Tradition as guests arrive, and keep the Mathieu-Nicolas 'Cuvée 1629' (from the 12th-generation Moussé brothers) for Christmas morning.
The Starter (Smoked Salmon): You need energy. The Saint Véran 'La Fournaise' from Frantz Chagnoleau is electric, with wonderful bite and bounce, to cut right through the richness.
The Main (Turkey White): For the white wine lovers, the Chenin Blanc 'N' from rising star Vanessa Cherruau has a beautiful fleshy feel, that's a perfect match for the bird.
The Main (Turkey Red): The classic pairing. The Marsannay 'Champs Perdrix' is a gorgeous Pinot Noir from the stony field vineyards of the Derey brothers, with the perfect lift and berry fruit.
The Main (Beef or Goose): Serving something richer? We've got you. The Le Pessac-Léognan from Domaine de Chevalier is an elegant, classic claret with notes of blackcurrant, dark cherry, graphite, and cedar.
The Cheese Board: Time to explore. We've included the chalky and... refreshing Finca de Los Locos Rioja from the Artuke brothers and the Sangiovese 'Girapoggio', which has that wonderful Italian 'bite' of savoury freshness.
The Pudding: The grand finale. The Coteaux du Layon 'Les Rouannières' is a stunning sweet Chenin, with notes of crème caramel, and grilled peaches that will sing with the fruit and spice. See? Job done. This is your one-click solution to a perfectly-paired, utterly delicious Christmas.

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