With it being National Chardonnay Day and all, recommending anything but a Chardonnay just seems to be anti-everything the holiday stands for. So we’re turning to a bottle that hails from Chardonnay’s ancestral home, the wine region of Burgundy, France, for a wine that will charm both Chardonnay lovers as well as those giving the variety another try.
The JJ Vincent Bourgogne Blanc is a wine with just the right amount of balance between oak and freshness, delivering flavors that everyone will love and at a price that is much lower than you expect for quality Burgundian Chardonnay. Labeled a Bourgogne Blanc or village wine, these wines are often made from grapes that hail from across the region – with this wine taking its grapes from the Macon – and when they are massed produced to be sold at a retail price of under twenty dollars, they can often be large disappointments. But that’s not the case at all with the JJ Vincent.
In the glass the wine gives off intoxicating floral aromas combined with a mix of honey that immediately transports you to somewhere warm and beautiful. On the palate the wine is light, with a healthy dose of acidity. 70% of the wine is aged solely in stainless steel, while the other 30% sees used oak for only about 6 months. The result is a wine that is fresh and vibrant that would be perfect for al fresco sipping.
