Maison Frédéric Magnien, Bourgogne Chardonnay Discount

Maison Frédéric Magnien, Bourgogne Chardonnay

I never thought “Fred” Magnien would be able to top his Bourgogne Rouge on the Burgundy value charts, but lo and behold, he’s done just that with his Bourgogne Blanc. I’m not surprised, given how consistently Magnien has been blowing us away lately, but it’s really something special when a sub-$30, “entry level” wine over-performs to this degree. There are a lot of Burgundy “micro-négociants” out there doing incredible work, but I’d be hard-pressed to name another who gets as granular as Magien. 

Having grown up riding his bicycle through the vineyards of Morey-Saint-Denis, he knows the Burgundy terroir like the back of his hand, as is clear when you look at the marquee-name vineyard parcels that grace his many labels. He only works with growers who are certified organic (or in the process of conversion), spends considerable time with each grower all season long, and, as it turns out, treating vine-growers as partners rather than contractors pays measurable dividends: Even at the entry level, there’s something truly special inside the bottle, and believe me, you can taste it. Want to elevate the everyday? This is the white Burgundy to do it!

Frédéric Magnien founded his maison in Morey-Saint-Denis in 1995, following an extended period of travel to other great wine regions of the world. The roster of wines now produced under the Magnien label is extremely long and diverse, stretching the length of the Côte d’Or and reaching up into Chablis as well. All the wines display the kind of precision that comes from careful, hands-on fruit sourcing, and there’s no doubt that Magnien considers himself a vigneron first and a winemaker second. He has his own teams carry out harvests in the vineyards he works with, all of which he carefully selects and closely monitors throughout the growing season. 

For his Bourgogne Blanc, Magnien sources fruit in part from old vines in the “Les Gravières” vineyard in Chambolle-Musigny (also a source for his stellar Bourgogne Rouge). Additional sources are in Fixin, Marsannay, and, most notably, Meursault. Grapes are whole-cluster pressed and fermented on ambient yeasts in stainless steel, followed by aging in used oak. The wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered, and it displays a great mix of richness and tension in the 2018 vintage.

Anyone who drinks a lot of white Burgundy will need no convincing here: There is a clear pedigree to this wine. In the glass, it shines a brilliant straw-gold with hints of green at the rim. Aromas of yellow and green apple, citrus pith, lime blossom, raw hazelnut, baking spice, and crushed white stones carry through to the palate, which is at once laser-like in focus but also deceivingly rich and rounded. It is densely packed and deeply mineral, poised to unwind and evolve over the next few years, but it’s plenty appealing now after some time open. Feel free to either “pop and pour” or give it a quick splash-decant, then serve in all-purpose stems at 50 degrees. The food-pairing options are nearly limitless—all the classic white Burgundy standards are in play here—so consider stocking up. You want plenty of arrows in your quiver! Enjoy!