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Review: Les Charmes Single Vineyard Chardonnay Macon-Lugny


Charmed by Les Charmes.

It’s another hot day in the desert, which explains why I’m raiding my supply of white wines. Today I opened a bottle of 2009 Les Charmes single vineyard Chardonnay from Macon-Lugny, Lugny, France (Vine de Bourgogne) Estate grown and bottled.

Tonight the heat of the valley was replaced by the comfort of a delicious chilled white wine, a white wine from France. With flavors of grapefruit and melon, its’ creaminess soothes and cools, while aromas of baked bread and lemon bring together a lovely union. Not over the top, it is well balanced, with a rich medium finish; I found this wine very enjoyable alone or with food.

Tonight I paired this wine with salmon pasta. I had left-over grilled salmon, so I broke it up and sautéed it with olive oil, adding only salt. Then I cooked a box of elbow macaroni, perhaps a little too much macaroni, the box did not look big, but it cooked up an enormous quantity. Once the pasta was cooked and drained, I stirred in virgin olive oil, dill, heavy cream, butter and some Tzatziki (Greek yoghurt sauce with garlic and cucumber often used in Gyros). I then combined the salmon and pasta, made a simple salad of lettuce, tomato and cucumber, sprinkled grated parmesan over both and voila, dinner. Due to the large amount of pasta, none of the flavors overwhelmed and the Les Charmes Chardonnay matched well (I also have enough salmon pasta to last for the next couple of days). I enjoyed this wine, so it’s recommended.

Cave de Lugny is a cooperative of 250+ wine-growing estates and 1,500 hectares in Burgundy-Maconnais. The single vineyard soil is characterized as chalky/limestone, the vines average age is 40 years old. The majority of this vineyard is planted to “Musk Chardonnay” a sub-category of the Chardonnay varietal (a clone).

Contact Pasternak Wine Imports for pricing and availability www.pasternakwine.com

Cheers!

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