Today’s Monday musings is about Maconnais, what we think of when we think of Burgundy, and about cooperatives. Twice today I had the great good fortune of being invited to two amazing French wine tastings – one focused on a historic champagne house and another focused on the largest cooperative in the Maconnais in Burgundy. I was thrilled to see friends and attend both. I am just going to briefly mention the Maconnais tasting with Caves de Lugny, a marvelous cooperative that share with us 5 of their flagship wines based on Chardonnay. We tasted different vintages, blends of vineyards, and styles and they all had precision, depth, and complexity of fruit without being over the top or outrageously oaky or alcoholic. In fact none of the wines saw any oak. They were unoaked and had texture and depth both because of lees stirring and because of the complexity of the fruit and its phenolic ripeness, a positive aspect of climate change for the region is that the grapes are more consistent and can fully ripen on the vine whereas in the past, they suffered from lack of warmth. I heard from both producers today that the wines are getting better and better since the climate has shifted. What I am musing about today is weather that will continue for 5-10 years or not. My other conclusion today was that Maconnais and especially this cooperative, Caves de Lugny are certainly worth pursuing both for pleasure in the glass and for their great price/quality ratio. It’s always fun to be reminded how wonderful Chardonnay can be in its home country.