Denis Dutron Mâcon-Fuissé 2014

The medium-bodied 2014 Denis Dutron Mâcon-Fuissé offers everything classic white Mâconnais Burgundy has to offer. It begins its enchantment with a brilliant, sun-kissed robe, but better still is the wine’s enticing bouquet of freshly picked mountain apples, acacia flowers, and freshly baked bread straight out of the oven. In the mouth, soft creamy flavors meld beautifully with the wine’s pure natural fruit and bright acidity. Pinpoint precision and a racy refreshing minerality round out the wine’s palate appeal and provide a clean lingering finish. For optimal enjoyment, we suggest a moderate chill (about 40° F) before serving, though many will prefer Dutron’s excellent Mâcon-Fuissé at a more ambient temperature, so as you like it.

The exceptionally pure and easy to drink 2014 Denis Dutron Mâcon-Fuissé provides the quintessential aperitif. It also provides the perfect foil to hors d’oeuvres, gourmet cheeses, white pizzas and almost anything that once swam in the sea. Crab dips, grilled shrimp and sautéed scallops constitute some of our favorite pairings with this Mâcon-Fuissé. Baked or grilled flounder, grouper, mahi mahi and seas bass offer other fine pairings with Denis Dutron’s Mâcon-Fuissé. A thin crust white pizza with shitake mushrooms, Taleggio cheese and black truffles also makes a superb companion to this wine. Light, creamy pastas and healthy garden salads topped with grilled chicken offer other excellent accompaniments to this beautiful Mâcon-Fuissé. Goat cheeses and soft cow’s milk cheeses such as Bucheron, Edam, and Port Salut provide excellent and easy to prepare accompaniments to Denis Dutron’s tasty Macon-Fuissé as well. Enjoy!

The Dutron family founded the present wine estate, Château Vitallis, in 1835. Château Vitallis is one of the few "large" estates in the picturesque wine country of southern Burgundy known as the Mâconnais. Although large by local standards, the estate cultivates a mere 26 acres of vines. Since 1981, the estate has been run with expert care by Denis Dutron, who bottles his Mâconnais wines under both Château Vitallis and his own name, Denis Dutron.

The estate is renowned for its old vines, many of which are in excess of 65 years of age, with the average age of vines between 35-40 years. The château’s vineyards are situated on the premier slopes of the region, all facing southeast at an altitude of up to 900 feet in the premier villages of Fuissé and Solutré. Just four still wines are entitled to bear the name Château Vitallis: Pouilly-Fuissé, Mâcon-Fuissé, Mâcon-Vinzelles and St. Véran – all Mâconnais classics made from 100% Chardonnay grapes.

Denis Dutron uses traditional methods in the vineyards. He employs natural ground cover and sustainable methods of cultivation instead of chemical fertilizers and herbicides. In the cellar he uses stainless steel vats and employs temperature-control to assure a long, cool fermentation, which results in beautiful fresh fruit aromas and flavors in each of his wines. Denis Dutron’s wines regularly garner medals in French wine competitions, including Gold Medals at the Paris Agricultural Fair (Concours Général Agricole de Paris) and the Mâcon Wine Fair, France’s two most prestigious wine competitions.

The wines from the villages around Mâcon are the most popular white wines of France’s fabled Burgundy region. They draw their name from the small city of Mâcon in southern Burgundy and the 26 distinct villages from which the appellation’s bright, delicate Chardonnay wines flow. The fine wine villages of the Mâconnais are a hilly, rural part of Burgundy. Lucky for us the wines of Mâcon-Villages are born on the region’s limestone subsoil, which help distinguish the appellation’s wares from less favored locales. Here, Chardonnay reigns supreme and accounts for more than 90% of the entire Mâconnais’s production. Pouilly-Fuissé, St. Véran, Mâcon-Fuissé and Mâcon-Vinzelles are considered the stars of the region and each is entitled to its own individual appellation.