Verget - 'Terres de Pierres' - Chardonnay - Mâcon-Villages, Burgundy, FR - 2024

Notes from the Winery/Importer

From a collection of Macon climats: Viré, Bussières, Pierreclos, Vergisson. Viré is more clay-based, while the other three plots are more limestone-dense with some clay. Fermented and aged 4 additional months in horizontal stainless tanks without racking. 10,000 bottles produced. 86, WK - "The 2024 Mâcon-Villages Terres de Pierres is floral and exotic, with a medium-bodied, fine-boned palate and a chalky, mouthwatering finish."

Notes on the Producer

VITICULTURE | VERGET Before being able to spend significant time in the Maconnais, Jean-Marie of Guffens-Heynen was a believer, like many others, that great chardonnay comes from the more serious appellations. He didn't have enough money to acquire vineyards at the time, so he started buying fruit and created Verget in 1990.Verget follows the same ideals as the Domaine wines " the best wine is made using the best grapes" they have always only bought grapes in a very meticulous manner. Since 2006, Julien Desplans joined Jean-Marie and oversees all of the vineyards and purchases, while JeanMarie is still supporting with the vilification. By its original approach, Verget is a laboratory of terroirs and a creator of climates which reveals all the aspects, all the nuances and the subtleties of the same appellation. The relationships with the growers are most important, as Verget determines the vineyard management and is often doing the picking. VINIFICATION | VERGET As with the domaine wines, the press is a crucial part of the Verget process. Each plot is pressed and vinified separately. During pressing, the person in charge is carefully watching and tasting along the way. The wines are aged on the lees and stirred depending on each cuvee and vintage. Aging is in cement tanks, stainless vats, or barrels and often the final product is a combination. There are unique cement tanks that have an egg shape and are horizontal rather than vertical which allows for natural circulation of the lees Julien Desplans' Notes on the 2025 Vintage: "In the Mâconnais region, the 2025 vintage offered us many excesses: abundant rains, an episode of hail and two heat waves of rare intensity. The rainy winter of 2024/2025 replenished water reserves, which proved essential for the rest of the season. A mild, dry spring encouraged early budbreak. Cooler weather and rain then persisted until mid-June, complicating flowering and reducing the harvest potential. In early June, hail severely damaged some of our flagship plots. Fortunately, the sun returned, accompanied by the first heatwave at the end of June, which helped to cleanse the vineyards. A more temperate July offered the vines a respite before August brought one of the longest heatwaves ever recorded. Ripening accelerated, and the berries remained small, concentrating sugar and acidity. We began the harvest on August 23rd to preserve the acidity of the sunniest grapes. They ended on September 11 after an alternation of dry and rainy days, which shaped very varied aromatic profiles with a taste quality that was always there.

Grapes & Style

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is one of the great white grapes of Burgundy, and one of the most widely planted wine grapes in the world. It has a long history in eastern France, especially Burgundy and Champagne, and DNA work shows it as part of the same broad Pinot and Gouais Blanc family that gave us grapes like Gamay and Aligoté. It’s adaptable, easy enough to grow in many places, and capable of producing everything from simple everyday whites to some of the most ageworthy white wines in the world.

In the vineyard, Chardonnay buds and ripens relatively early, which makes it useful in cooler climates but vulnerable to spring frost. It tends to do especially well on limestone and calcareous clay, and its relatively neutral fruit profile gives site and cellar choices a lot of room to show. Malolactic fermentation, lees aging, barrel fermentation, and oak can all shape the final wine dramatically.

In the glass, Chardonnay can be lean, saline, and citrus-driven, or broad, textured, and orchard-fruited, depending on where it’s grown and how it’s made. Chablis shows the steely, high-acid side; the Côte de Beaune shows depth, texture, and savory complexity; Champagne shows its value as a sparkling-wine base. Good Chardonnay is less about one fixed flavor than about balance, texture, and the way it carries place.