Producer Nicolas Maillet

FRANCE, BURGUNDY

Nicolas Maillet is a winemaker - or farmer, as he prefers to say - by family tradition. But the company started by his father sold the grapes to the local cooperative, according to a recurring pattern in Mâconnais, the southernmost part of the great Burgundy. Since 1999, however, Nicolas has decided to make a real change and to start producing his wine, starting from the 7.5 hectares of the beautiful clayey-limestone terroir of Verzé. Minimalist in the vineyard, Maillet uses biodynamic preparations (silica, 500, etc.), in addition to products authorized by organic regulation (certified). His approach is so respectful of the terroir that his ideal ambition would be to be able to give up even copper and sulfur, letting the vineyard defend itself. Naturally, the cellar methods are equally delicate and not very invasive: very long spontaneous fermentations carried out only by indigenous yeasts, refinements without decanting, bottling after a very light and gentle filtration. Sulphites are used sparingly. Maillet's Mâcon reflect this sensitive and perfectionist working method in their elegant purity.