First Taste: Jacque & Nathalie Saumaize's 2018 Release

6 products
  • $22.00
    White wine. Mâconnais, Burgundy, France. Sustainable. 100% Chardonnay. "The 2018 Mâcon-Bussières “Montbrison” from Domaine Jacques Saumaize is a gorgeous bottle of Mâconnais chardonnay. The bouquet wafts from the glass in an utterly refined and complex blend of pear, almond, apple blossoms, bee pollen, a dollop of buttery oak and a beautiful base of soil tones. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, ripe and zesty, with outstanding mid-palate depth, fine focus and grip, a lovely vein of minerality and a long, bouncy and complex finish. This is a fairly ripe example, but the Mâcon-Bussières is in the southern end of the region, tucked up against the smaller Roche de Bussière and has a fine base of limestone soils, which clearly were an advantage in keeping lift and bounce in the hot summer of 2018." — 91 Points, John Gilman, View From The Cellar #88 (July/August 2020)
  • $39.00
    White wine. Mâconnais, Burgundy, France. Sustainable. 100% Chardonnay. "The lieu à dit of Les Courtelongs lies on the eastern flank of the Roche de Solutré, with a very stony base of limestone topsoil. The family’s vines here are sixty years of age. Jacques Saumaize barrel-ferments this bottling and ages it in cask, with twenty percent new oak used each year. The 2018 Les Courtelongs offers up a beautiful bouquet of pear, delicious apple, almond, a lovely base of chalky minerality, white lilies and a touch of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, bright and full-bodied, with a beautiful vein of minerality running from start to finish, a lovely core of pure fruit, zesty acids and great length and grip on the poised and impeccably balanced finish. This is so precise and classic- especially for a 2018!" — 93 Points, John Gilman, View From The Cellar #88 (July/August 2020)
  • $27.00
    White wine. Mâconnais, Burgundy, France. Sustainable. 100% Chardonnay. "The Saint-Véran “Poncetys” from Domaine Jacques Saumaize is composed of some of the family’s very oldest vines, as the parcels here were planted at the end of World War II in 1944 and 1945. Like the old vine bottling in the lieu à dit of En Crêches, this wine is barrel-fermented and sees twenty percent new wood. The 2018 Poncetys offers up a superb bouquet of apple, white peach, a touch of hazelnut, a fine base of soil, just a hint of buttery oak and a topnote of acacia blossoms. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and vibrant, with excellent balance and acidity, a rock solid core and outstanding length and grip on the complex finish. The soils here have more clay than in les Crêches, which gives the wine a bit broader shoulders and superb mid-palate depth. But, the exposition is plain East, which also allows the wine to retain acidity and lift—a very lovely combination." — 92+ Points, John Gilman, View From The Cellar #88 (July/August 2020)
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  • $39.00
    White wine. Mâconnais, Burgundy, France. Sustainable. 100% Chardonnay. "The vineyard of La Maréchaude is located on the southern flank of the Roche de Vergisson, about mid-slope, with deep clay soils pockmarked with white stones. The Saumaize family has three distinct parcels of vines in this lieu à dit, with the oldest plot being eighty years of age. Like all of the family’s Pouilly-Fuissé bottlings, it is barrel-fermented and raised in twenty percent new oak. The 2018 La Maréchaude delivers fine aromatic complexity in its mix of pear, apple, hazelnut, a lovely base of soil (albeit, not particularly chalky in character) and buttery oak. On the palate the wine is deep, ripe and pure, with a full-bodied format, a rock solid core of fruit, bright, snappy acids and excellent focus and grip on the long and complex finish. Not surprisingly, this is more fruit-driven in personality than the Les Courtelongs bottling, but every bit as high quality." — 92+ Points, John Gilman, View From The Cellar #88 (July/August 2020)
  • $21.00
    White wine. Mâconnais, Burgundy, France. Sustainable. 100% Chardonnay. "The 2018 Mâcon-Vergisson “Sur la Roche” from Jacque and Natalie Saumaize is a very complex and classy example of Mâcon, offering up a vibrant nose of pear, apple, a touch of nuttiness, orange blossoms and a lovely base of soil tones. On the palate the wine is crisp, fullish and rock solid at the core, with lovely focus and balance, good soil signature and a long, complex and bouncy finish. This does not have quite the dimension of the estate’s excellent Saint-Véran or Pouilly-Fuissé bottlings, but it has old vine intensity of flavor, the same sense of precision and really quite nice acidity for the vintage. Lovely juice." — 89 Points, John Gilman, View From The Cellar #88 (July/August 2020)
  • $27.00

    White wine. Mâconnais, Burgundy, France. Sustainable. 100% Chardonnay. Pale yellow. A lovely bouquet of yellow fruit. Ripe and faintly sweet, the palate delivers a softly texture and excellent balance. This wine finishes with more breadth than length, culminating in a tangy end-note.