The brilliant wine-maker Jean-Marie Guffens is behind Maison Verget which produces wines from grapes sourced across Burgundy but predominately from Mâconnais. This company created in 1990 in Sologny brings together all the wines of the trading business, with a superb range of appellations, from Chablis to Mâconnais, to highlight the specificities and nuances of each terroir.
The wines have acquired a solid reputation for their diamond-polished characteristics which are always very pure as well as being both rich and taut at the same time. The grapes are sourced from exemplary partner wineries and the winemaking and maturation processes are conduction with the same precision. A safe bet in Burgundy, Jean-Marie Guffens-Heynen is a Master in the art of Chardonnay. Since 2012, the brilliant oenologist Julien Desplans has joined him as a cellar master. Trained at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, he takes the company to new heights, helping it win the award “Trading Business of the Year” in 2020 from the French wine magazine La Revue du vin de France. Read our article about Maison Verget on the iDealwine blog

Who among Burgundy’s wine enthusiasts hasn’t heard of the talented Jean-Marie and Maine Guffens-Heynen, lovers of fine white wines? At the helm of a number of different entities, they also run the highly prestigious Verget wine merchant house with Julien Desplans. Together, they produce the Mâcon-Villages Grand Elevage from lovingly nurtured Chardonnay vines, which draw the nutrients they require to thrive in soils of clay, limestone and abundant pebbles.
In the winery, the grapes are meticulously vinified following traditional methods, culminating in a six-month ageing period in casks with 20% new wood. This ageing process is punctuated by ‘bâtonnage’ (stirring of the lees), allowing the lees (dead yeast) to return to suspension and imparting a slightly fatty texture and predominantly milky aromas to the wine.
The wine reveals a fine balance of natural fruit freshness and ageing characteristics. Minerality combines with notes of fresh fruit, hints of dried fruit and a fleshy texture.