INSIDER'S PICK: 2018 DOMAINE JEAN TOUZOT MACON-VILLAGES VIEILLES VIGNES $18.99

Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We will be returning to doing just the one wine on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.

With vintners in Burgundy struggling this week with frost issues along with other parts of France and Europe, we felt we should help everyone raise a glass to them by featuring one of their better value wines. The main part of Burgundy around the city of Beaune is deservedly famous for making what many say is the finest versions of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the world. It's also one of the most compressed in terms of space, so there isn't a lot of room to make more and keep up with the international demand. When nature throws hurdles like this in at the start of a vintage, it can have many cascading effects by the end of the vintage; even if the quality ends up being fine, yields can be dramatically altered, and if some parcels are damaged enough entire wines could be eliminated. Inevitably, when rare things become even more rare, pricing bumps up quickly. Fortunately the Macon region to the South does not seem to feel these pressures nearly as intensely, with a wider breadth of vineyard space and not nearly the price scrutiny at the highest end of the spectrum. We have loved this little wine for quite a few vintages now, appearing in previous vintages in other promotions of ours, and just never misses for value. Sourced from the same 15 acres of vineyards each vintage with an average age well over 30 years (mature vines handle climate issues consistently better than younger ones), this is about as pure and clean a Burgundy as you can get for the price. Unoaked but full malolactic fermentation gives the wine lots of round texture but still maintains the fresh citrus and warm fruit on the nose and mouth, naturally full but not unctuous and not as minerally as a Chablis or cooler climate Chardonnay can get. A great segue from oaky/buttery Chards into the French style, tasty with many lighter foods or on its own.

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