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Everyone loves white burgundy. Made from chardonnay grapes, these wines from France’s gastronomic heartland, stretching from just south of Champagne to just north of Lyon, are singular: graceful, textured and full of joy. But prices tend to be less friendly; Doug Wregg from organic wine importer Les Caves de Pyrene says “affordable burgundy” is “almost an oxymoron” due to limited supply, labour-intensive production techniques and historic prestige. The recent slew of poor vintages has made those low yields even lower, and prices higher. But good examples do exist at under £25 a pop, which is where I’ve set my budget benchmark today.
That sum won’t get you premier cru meursault, or anything from the Côte d’Or, a narrow hillside of celebrated limestone slopes south of Dijon, but there is still plenty within reach. Not least aligoté, the region’s second white grape, which can reliably be found for less than £25 (try Majestic’s Famille Gueguen number at £15.50 a bottle on the “mix six” offer), but “white burgundy” always means chardonnay, which is my focus today. A sensible start is in the Mâconnais, the southernmost point of Burgundy’s wine-producing area, where warmer temperatures and clay-limestone soil make for a rounder style of wine. Almost every supermarket has an own-label Mâcon Villages – I spent many a tidy Friday night in my twenties in a south London park with the Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference iteration (now £12.50 – inflation!) and a large bag of Doritos Cool Original (a good pairing, incidentally) – and they tend to be easy, fruity table wines. Usually, they’re unoaked, too, removing a layer of process that helps keep the price down. That said, oak doesn’t necessarily mean better; rather, its absence arguably lets the terroirs sing louder. Wregg’s Domaine des Cadoles 2022 Mâcon Chardonnay in today’s pick is a lovely example, at once mineral and creamy.
Most generic white burgundy is Mâcon in lipstick, repackaged and marked up for the British market. (Still, it’s more affordable than wines from specific named Mâconnais villages, such as Saint-Véran, which tend to be at least a tenner more expensive.) They can be very good, but they also vary hugely in style. Berry Bros & Rudd’s is a buttery, generous example with some oak, while Adnams and the Wine Society’s equivalents (£14.99 and £11.95, respectively) have all the ripeness, but a more bracing citrus character. Other places to look include the Côte Chalonnaise just north of Mâcon, where the wine tends to have more structure and elegance, and which you’ll pay for: supermarket bottles from villages such as Rully and Montagny command prices in the region of £20. You could also look to the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune, the higher slopes above the Côte d’Or, for a bargain: Domaine Devevey’s Champs Perdrix 2021 fits that bill – Emile Wines was selling it at £40 a pop, but recently bin-ended it at £25 – a total steal.
The elephant in the room, of course, is that the term “affordable white burgundy” asks us to spend what we would on a superior New Zealand chardonnay, say, but on the region’s entry-level bottles. Is it worth it? Personally, I think so. You’re paying for peerless and proven terroirs that chardonnay, a particularly talented grape in this department, translates into wines that taste of nowhere else. Take Chablis in Burgundy’s north, where the climate is cool and Kimmeridgian soil (limestone, clay and fossilised oysters) lends unique flintiness to its wines. You can spend virtually anything on a chablis, but its hallmark character comes through well in Esprit de Chablis, which is £18.75 at Waitrose.
Four white burgundies that won’t break the bank
Esprit de Chablis £18.75 Waitrose, 12.5%. An emblematic chablis and weekend lunch best friend to see you through from aperitif to cheese.
The Society’s White Burgundy 2024 £11.95 The Wine Society, 12.5%. Fresh, mineral, delicious and a total bargain.
Domaine des Cadoles Mâcon-Chardonnay 2022 £19.60 Les Caves de Pyrene, 13.5%. Great with a veggie barbecue (and from a village called Chardonnay, no less!).
Berry Bros & Rudd White Burgundy 2023 £17.50, 13%. A richer style of white burgundy; a touch of oak gives this smart Mâcon the complex buttery notes people associate with the region.
