92 pts Wine Advocate

Reviewed by: William Kelley
Drink Date: 2024 – 2034

The 2023 Saint-Vran Lieu (Inter)dit has turned out nicely, unwinding in the glass with aromas of pear, confit citrus, white flowers, toasted nuts and iodine. Medium to full-bodied, its broad and ample attack segues into a racy, concentrated and chalky palate.

Domaine Guffens-Heynen may be the label that makes collectors line up in wait, but Maison Verget has long ranked as one of the Mconnais’s top addresses in its own right. The 2023 vintage, a strong rival to the house’s 2020 portfolio, only underlines that. As I’ve written before, Verget’s Sologny winery is a sizable facility, unlike the tiny cellars of Domaine Guffens-Heynen, but artisanal methods have been intelligently scaled to match the requirements of larger-scale production: large horizontal stainless steel tanks, for example, offer the same lees-wine ratio as oak barrels, and the lees can be worked with nitrogen without introducing any oxygen into the vessel. Such inventivenessand Desplans’s evident fastidiousnessexplain how Verget can offer such quality on such a scale. The best cuves very much belong among the Mconnais lite, but this portfolio is also rich with terrific values to purchase by the case, which would make ideal daily drinkers or by-the-glass pours.

Vineyard:Mainly from the Cte-Rtie and Terres Noires plots in Davay.
Winemaking:Produced only with first press in 30% new barrels.7 months aging with multiple rounds of batonnage.

Maison Verget was established in 1990 as the ngociant arm of Burgundy star Jean-Marie Guffens.

Guffens sources his Verget fruit predominantly from Mcon, with supplementary sources from serious, like-minded growers in Chablis and southern France.

Operations are in the hands of Guffenss right-hand man, Julien Desplans, who joined the project in 2006.

Vinification for the mostly white range includes single-plot fermentations and lees-aging in various vessels, including barrel, foudre, steel tanks and cement vats.

The range is wide, encompassing up to 15 wines in any given year from the Bourgogne, Mcon-Villages, Saint-Vran and Pouilly-Fuiss appellations.

There is also a selection of southern French reds and whites that offer excellent value for money.

Jean-Marie Guffens’s Verget label continues to be a reference point for the Mconnais. The best cuves very much belong among the Mconnais’s lite, but this portfolio is also rich with terrific values to purchase by the case that would make ideal daily drinkers or by-the-glass pours. Classy but keenly priced white Burgundy isn’t easy to come by these days, so we should all be thankful for the Maison Verget. These wines come warmly recommended.William Kelley, The Wine Advocate