"It is amazing what Frantz Chagnoleau has achieved at his small domaine in Pierreclos."

Caroline Gon and her partner, Frantz Chagnoleau, are among my go-to producers in the Mâconnais. Gon greeted me at the diminutive cellar on a bright sunny morning to guide me through their portfolio that centers around 6.8 hectares of vines around Saint-Véran and Pouilly-Fuissé. The centerpiece is 3.55 hectares of Mâcon-Villages in Le Clos Saint Pancras, which sits at 350m altitude. I first met Gon a few years back at Héritiers Comtes Lafon when she managed the day-to-day operations of Dominique Lafon’s estate (incidentally, their 2021s were reviewed in my Burgundy barrel report published in January.) There has always been a strong artisanal approach here, a sense of precision and prudence. New wood is judiciously used with a preference for 500-liter demi-muids and foudres, keeping wines on their lees...“I adore these wines. They rank among the finest in the region, and their Saint-Véran got me entertaining the idea of Premier Cru status being extended to this appellation. On the other hand, not all winemakers have the aptitude and talent of this pair. NEAL MARTIN

It is amazing what Frantz Chagnoleau has achieved at his small domaine in Pierreclos. JASPER MORRIS

These wines are the greatest discovery of the year for me so far. I tasted them a couple of weeks back. The importer was running late, I had a million things on so was flying through the tasting and then these stopped me in my tracks. Wait was that just a cheap little Macon????? Went back for another taste...look at the bottle quizzically...look up at the importer, he's grinning like a Cheshire cat, he knows just how good they are. I think I mumbled something deep and meaningful like... "that's awesome!" These are new imports for him too and it's clear they have delivered even more than he could have dreamed for. He probably told me the story while I was tasting but I clearly didn't listen, probably because I was so into what was in the glass, but when I did some digging around later it all made sense!

The wines are made by Frantz Chagnoleau and his partner Caroline Gon. Does that last name sound familiar? Well if you have been drinking wines from the Macon in the last decade you would have definitely drunk those from legendary Meursault producer Dominique Lafon's Heritiers du Comte Lafon. Dominique Lafon, along with the late Ann-Claude Leflaive, were among the first to really see the incredible potential in the Maconnais in the late 90s and invest real money in its future. A future that is being realised today. Caroline Gon came onboard at Heritiers du Comte Lafon shortly after Dominique set up the estate. She has been running the show there ever since making some of the finest wines produced in the region, well that is...until now.  Caroline has now left Heritiers and joined her partner Frantz in his eponymous estate. Frantz, who spend many years beside the highly regarded Olivier Merlin, is another Maconnais bred talent who went out on his own back in 2009 armed with 6 hectares of old vines in the villages of Prissé, Chasselas, Vergisson and Viré. 

Caroline and her partner Frantz are now throwing themselves headfirst into the estate. Everything here is anchored around their exceptional sites. They have holdings  near and around the high-altitude villages of Vergisson and Solutré. La Roche de Vergisson and La Roche de Solutré are where you will find those now recognised top cru Pouilly Fuisse wines. The real jewels though may actually be from their vineyards near the villages of Davaye, Prissé, Chasselas, and Fuissé which produce the finest Saint-Veran. Still under the radar if you get it right here the quality to value ratio is off the charts and who better to dial that in than these hugely talented pair. 

Both Frantz and Caroline and avid believers in organics and stainable viticulture having seen the results first hand at the previous day jobs. The work they have done in the vineyards has no doubt lifted the quality of these wines to extraordinary heights that may never have actualised otherwise. They have been Ecocert certified since 2012 and most of the vineyards are worked traditionally with a horse. In the winery it's a very hands off, minimal intervention approach and only indigenous yeasts are used. Caroline and Frantz are definitely in the 'let the fruit do the talking' camp and the wines are predominately reared in old foudre and demi-muid. 

So as to the wines? There is such wonderful purity, tension and energy to be found here. Not always something that comes to mind from this part of Burgundy, but here the wines marry the natural generosity of the region with a lightness of touch and dare I say elegance, even in the baseline Macon-Village which I think Neal Martin correctly believes is "As good a Mâcon-Villages, you will find any year" The Saint-Veran transcend anything you might have conceived from this part of Burgundy and the Pouilly Fuisse are of course understandably highly regarded. This is a still a very small operation however so the wines are excellent and affordable as they may be, are very limited in nature. These all come highly recommended and I would jump in here with confidence.