Description
Jessica Litaud’s Mâcon-Vergisson La Roche comes from a 0.48-hectare plot of 50-year-old vines planted on very chalky soil. The wine shines with its freshness and zesty citrus notes. It has just the right concentration, a smooth balance, and a taut, mouth-watering finish. This is a magnificent bottle to accompany a seafood risotto or razor clams à la plancha.
About the Mâcon-Vergisson La Roche appellation
Character of the wines
Like its cousin, Mâcon-Solutré-Pouilly, the white Mâcon-Vergisson has a deep golden-yellow colour. Its delicate aromas reveal notes of lemon and citrus blossom without any greenness. Scents of a basket of candied fruit enhance its sweet, indulgent character, sometimes likened to tangy confectionery. The attack on the palate is very direct, hinting at a salty finish that is confirmed on the finish.
Location
Situated in the heart of the southern Mâconnais escarpments, the vineyards of the Mâcon-Vergisson appellation occupy the crest of the Vergisson rock, on the border of the village of Prissé and the Saint-Véran appellation.
Clinging to steep slopes, the vertical village of Vergisson is less famous than its neighbour Solutré. Yet its location is much more easily spotted from the Autoroute du Soleil, as the ‘red rock’ cliff stands out clearly against the horizon. Consequently, the Vergisson cliff is often mistakenly taken for the Solutré spur.
Inhabited since the Palaeolithic era, the caves of Vergisson have yielded Neanderthal human remains, now preserved at the Departmental Museum of Prehistory.
Terroirs
Located on the gently north-east-facing slope of the Vergisson rock, the vineyards of Mâcon-Vergisson
are rooted on a plateau, at an altitude of around 380 metres, in the hamlet known as ‘Sur la Roche’. The proximity of a wood protects them from draughts coming from the north.
The long ridge of the rock features soils derived from Upper Bajocian limestone (170 million years ago), whilst the lower slopes (Sur la Roche) are covered in white colluvium of highly variable grain size. This colluvium itself is the result of the weathering of hard limestone. The soils here are slightly less well-drained than on the higher ground.
(Source: Vins de Bourgogne)
Terroirs
The Saint-Véran vineyard is divided into two separate plots separated by its neighbour Pouilly-Fuissé. Both occupy the slopes of the Solutré ridge. The backbone of this ridge is formed of ‘entrochite limestone’ from the Middle Jurassic period. On the western slope of these rocks, in older terrain (Lias), the steep slopes consist of grey marl (vineyards facing south and west in Chasselas and Leynes). On the gentle slopes of the eastern side of the rocks, marly limestone predominates (vineyards facing east in Prissé and Davayé). In Chânes and Prissé, on the left bank of the Petite Grosne, the vines are planted on entroque limestone, often covered with a layer of clay containing chailles (a type of flint).
(Source: Vins de Bourgogne)
What to eat with a Mâcon-Vergisson La Roche from Jessica Litaud?
- leek tart
- Creamy risottos
- Seafood à la plancha (razor clams)
- Oysters au gratin
- Burgundy snails
