“This is pure Chardonnay, with no excessive oak bullshit to clutter things up.”

Click image to enlarge

Now that the weather has warmed to the point where my wife has followed through with her threat to turn on the air conditioning, our thoughts are turning more towards the appropriate seasonal wine selections. While dry rosé certainly hits the mark in that regard, we drink the pink stuff all year around. Our warm weather wines are more often white, and there is seemingly no end to the variety that can be found from all over the globe.

The last time I reviewed this wine, it was branded “Collovray & Terrier,” the names of the two families that own and operate Domaine des Deux Roches, in the southern Mâconnais. (They also have an operation in the Languedoc, the Domaine Altugnac.) Aside from the apparent rebranding, everything else seems much the same as it was in 2015, when I wrote the following: “Christian Collovray and Jean-Luc Terrier have been friends since childhood and shared the same passion for wines. Their friendship was further strengthened when they married sisters Brigitte and Florence, whose father was a winemaker. In 1986, they established the Domaine des Deux Roches, based in the village of Davayé in the Mâconnais; Christian takes care of the vines while Jean-Luc manages the cellar and the commercial end of the business, and Brigitte and Florence both hold administrative positions.”

Christian’s son Julien Collovray joined the business in 2009, followed three years later by his wife, Caroline, and in 2019, Florence and Jean-Luc’s son, Pierre-Alexis Terrier. But for our purposes, what matters here is what’s in the bottle, which, from what I can gather, has also remained largely unchanged. The vines that produce the fruit are planted in the clay and limestone soils of Charnay, Davayé and Pierreclos, and fermentation and aging takes place entirely in stainless steel.

2021 Deux Roches Mâcon-Villages Tradition, 13% alc., $21.99: Appealing medium straw color, with a tempting nose that more than hints at the mineral driven, citrus-tinged peach and green apple flavors that follow. Full-bodied without being at all heavy, with racy acids and nice length on the finish. This is pure Chardonnay, with no excessive oak bullshit to clutter things up. In other words, it’s just the way I like it, and it’ll pair beautifully with a variety of fish and fowl delights.

There is much to like about this wine, and I will be looking for more from the domaine, which produces bottlings from Saint-Véran, Pouilly-Fuissé, and Viré-Clessé. They also make an entry level Bourgogne Blanc and a Mâcon Rouge. This one costs a little more than the $10-20 price range I like to focus on here, but in this case, it’s well worth the price, and I recommend it with enthusiasm. I purchased it from Holiday Market in Royal Oak, but it is also available at Berkley’s Westborn Market and at Plum Market, so it shouldn’t be hard to locate. Find this wine

Imported by A.H.D. Vintners, Warren, MI

Reporting from Day-twah,
Bastardo

Home | Tasting Notes