Jean Thévenet and his sweet chardonnay

 Wine tasting with Gautier and Jean Thévenet was an exeptionally interesting experience. Their wines are considered atypical of the region and the AOC authorities are only permitting the winegrower to use the Mâcon-Villages appellation.

It is true that for many reasons wines of Jean Thévenet stand out from the Mâconnais crowd.

He works on Bio (certified since 2007 , however we will not find this information on the label),picks late fully mature grapes and  has low yields. Fermentation alcoholic and malolaktic ,using indigenous yeast only,takes between 1 and 2 years at low temperature. After that wine is racked to stainless steel wats. Selling of the final product starts a year after bottling. All that means that the wine needs about 4 years to be ready!

The other interesting fact about their wines is the amount of residual sugar.Their dry white wines contain between 4,2 and 4,8 grams of residual sugar depending on the vintage (the regulation outlaws wines containing more than 2grams of residual sugar).All this is due to the soil. In Domaine Emilian Gillet it is the limestone that dominates, whereas in Domaine de la Bongran it is the white marl. Marne blanche is a soil that we will normally find in AOC Corton Charlemagne and where white wines could have similar levels of residual sugars to Mr Thévenet's wines shall they have been vinified the same way.

We have tasted Mâcon-Villages 2007 , Viré-Clessé Emilian Gillet 2009 and Viré-Clessé, Cuvée Tradition, Domaine de la Bongran 2004 only to confirm that the naturally occurring residual sugar is perfectly integrated in the wine. Wine of Domaine de la Bongran being the most concentrated, fruity, floral and mineral.

The most extraordinary of all are the sweet wines of the Domaine de la Bongran.

Cuvée Levroutée (made in 1999 and 2005 only) comes from parcel where, due to the specific climatic conditions 30% of the grapes have been attacted by the noble rot giving an off dry Chardonnay with 10 grams of resigual sugar.

Cuvée Botrytis (made in 2001 and 2006) is made only when specific condition are fulfilled : morning fog coming from nearby Saône river is followed by long, sunny afternoons and when noble rot ( Botrytis Cinerea) attacks the Chardonnay grapes. As a result we have grapes with lower amount of water, higher concentration of sugar and acidity.Noble rot only attacks about a hectare of vines every few years giving as a result a very rare wine (around 1200 bottles). Enjoy it if you can!

Izabela Zammit