Mâcon-Igé
Château London 2016
A bottle of Mâcon contains a big smile from the south of Burgundy. It has a southern feel to it, as do the Roman tiles that top the flat roofs…
Origin
After a short interruption south of the Côte Chalonnaise, vineyards reappear around the town of Tournus. This region is a great producer of primarily white wines. One out of three bottles of white Burgundy comes from the Mâconnais!
Château London is not a brand name, but a vineyard whose name refers to the fact that its original owner lived in rue Landon in Paris. Over time, “Landon” became “London”.
Viticulture
Grape variety: chardonnay & muscat chardonnay
Soils: chalky white limestone
Orientation: South-West
Surface area under vine: 2.72 ha
Pruning: Guyot system
Yield: 40 hL/ha
Average age of the vine: 35 years old.
Vinification
Harvest date: 7 October 2016.
The grapes were handpicked and were sorted a first time in the vineyard and a second time when they arrived at the winery.
At the winery: the whole bunches of grapes were gently pressed for 2½ hours. The temperature of the must was cooled to 12°C and was transferred directly into 450L barrels without settling of the must in order to keep most of the lees. A long fermentation period using indigenous yeasts.
Ageing
Maturation: aged for 8 months with no racking or stirring to bring out all of this wine’s minerality. 30% new French oak barrels.
Barrels: Oak of French origin toasted at low temperatures for a long time to impart a subtle, delicate touch of oak were used.
Bottling
Bottling: The wine was bentonite fined and very gently filtered before being bottled using gravity in August 2017.
Vintage
2016 , small is beautiful!
Small volumes, but lovely fruit overall. This is expected to be a great vintage, confirmed by the first tastings in spring. Vintage 2016 offers fine surprises with wines of potentially high quality. White wines have fine fruit aromas, with good body and will be ready to drink while young whereas the red wines are powerful, tender, concentrated and will be ideal for ageing. The harvest was one-third down on average because of the frost that struck the region on 28 April, causing a lot of irreversible damage. This was all the more frustrating as the summer was very hot and sunny, resulting in very dense berries with thick skins, promising concentration and intense wines, but with low yields.
Ageing potential: drink now or can be enjoyed up to 4 years.
Tasting notes
The color highlights golden shades. The rich and complex nose will seduce you with its powerful floral aromas, associated with muscat and toasted notes. On the palate, the attack is plump and fairly round with a nice liveliness on the finish.
