Tom reviews the world's best Chardonnay!... almost

I was recently in the beautiful Lincolnshire market town of Grantham and wandered into a local branch of M&S Food. As all wine addicts will know, the default thing to do when one enters such an establishment is to head straight for the wine section for quick foray. As I was absent-mindedly browsing M&S' (rather impressive) range, my eye was drawn to the bottles of their own-label Mâcon-Villages standing proudly on the top shelf. Remembering that this was the very wine that was recently crowned Decanter magazine's Best Chardonnay Under £15, I promptly bought a bottle to see for myself whether the £10 Mâcon was deserving of the title. On arriving home - much to my annoyance and also slight amusement - it transpired that I had actually bought the 2013 vintage, as opposed to the 2014 which had scooped such high praise. Undeterred in my quest for excellent Chardonnay, I persevered and proceeded to try the wine regardless.

 

And what a wine it was too. Produced for M&S by the Mâcon co-operative Vignerons des Grandes Vignes, the wine is selected and blended from specific cuvées within the Mâcon-Villages appellation. A medium lemon-coloured wine, its aromas were immediately expressive of everything that great Mâcon-Villages should be: crisp citrus tones mingling with stone fruits, coupled with a beautiful florality and minerality. I found the nectarine and white peach notes to be slightly honeyed too, almost reminiscent of a good Chenin, which I put down to the additional year that the wine spent in bottle. On the palate were more pure lemon and peach fruits, joined with a suggestion of green apple. Although unoaked (you can relax now, ABC clan) the wine's mouthfeel was smooth and plush: evidence, I am sure, of malolactic fermentation. The finish, too, was pleasant and lingering, with the mineral flavours remaining on the palate long after the wine's disappearance. 

After cocking up with the vintage, I felt justified in choosing M&S' Mâcon-Villages to taste, as it was a brilliant expression of Mâcon terroir, as well as an excellent ambassador for classic Old World Chardonnay. Not that I was the only person to have enjoyed the wine: writer Ned Halley in 'The Best Wines in the Supermarkets' found the wine to be "lively, leesy and [a] lush authentic regional unoaked Chardonnay". Furthermore, the wine also confirmed my belief about drinking Mâcon-Villages a few years after the vintage. Aside from the basic Mâcon blanc which is best drunk as young as possible, there is no reason why Mâcon-Villages and named village wines can't be enjoyed for up to five years after their conception, as the best will retain their fruit and develop honeyed nuances in the bottle, as I found here. 

 

So although I failed miserably in my efforts to review the world's best sub-£15 Chardonnay, I have managed to stumble across a brilliant little wine which is incredibly hard to fault at a tenner. All that remains now is to try its younger sibling to see how it compares. If it truly is better than the 2013, it promises to be an absolute belter.