Winemaker Notes
Although there is only a path separating Les Combettes from Les Genièvrières, the two terroirs are radically different. Les Combettes is very mineral, with a crispy bite. The wine is often more concentrated than Les Geniévrières, and it needs more time to come into its own. The appellation of Les Combettes is Mâcon Chardonnay (from the name of the village the vineyard is situated in, not the grape variety), and, thanks to the limestone bedrock having collapsed more than in Les Genièvrières, the vineyard is slightly more south facing, and is therefore warmer and the grapes ripen earlier. This, coupled with the low-yielding varieties of Chardonnay planted here, mean that the wines are always a little more rounded than Les Genièvrières.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Notes of peach, beeswax, white flowers, yellow orchard fruit and fresh bread preface the 2019 Mâcon-Chardonnay Les Combettes, a medium to full-bodied, rich and concentrated wine that's ample and enveloping, with chalky structure and a long, resonant finish. Les Combettes is adjacent to Genevrières (situated in the next valley over from Cruzille-proper, near the village of Grevilly), but more south-facing, attaining half a degree more natural alcohol as a result. Rating : 93+
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Jasper Morris
Medium to full yellow with rather a rich and quite oaky bouquet. The texture is relatively thick as the juice was deliberately not settled before fermentation, and there is also a touch of champignon. This was given a longer maturation. Delicious wine of really significant weight, the Combettes really needs decanting.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
These are the fun, fruit-driven and lively Chardonnays of white Burgundy, often offering some fantastic values and options that you don’t have to cellar. Flavors range from fresh green apple and lemon to melon or pineapple; some of the best are fleshy and mineral driven or balanced by a light touch of oak.
Mâconnais Chardonnay may have the weight of their more serious Côte de Beaune sisters, but not quite the refinement. Still, this appellation is one of the best ways to jump from California Chardonnay to something new and begin to understand white Burgundy.
The Mâconnais region is warmer and drier than the rest of Burgundy to its north (Côte d’Or) and has a landscape of rolling hills and farmland interspersed among vineyards. The region produces a lot of Chardonnay—Viré-Clessé and Pouilly-Fuisse are among the best—and a very small amount of red wine from Gamay and Pinot Noir. The soils of Mâconnais remain limestone dominant like in the Côte d’Or, making it a wonderful spot for Chardonnay to thrive. Gamay's home of Beaujolais lies just to the south.