I haven’t talked about Costco in a while, but I had a chance to pop over there to grab some wine (among MANY other jumbo-sized things). Glancing through the wine aisle, I looked for something I never had before, so I grabbed a bottle of 2017 Domaine de Chêne-Colombe Mâcon Villages.

Mâcon-Villages wines are made within the larger Mâconnais region of southern Burgundy and must come from one or more of the 26 villages designated to produce this Chardonnay wine. The hills of the Mâconnais extend more than 40 km from the Côte Chalonnaise to the Rock of Solutré and are bordered on one side by the river Saône and the Grosne on the other. Vines were first planted there in Gallo-Roman times and were fostered in the Middle Ages by the powerful abbeys of Tournus and Cluny, with AOC Mâcon dating from 1937. The warmer climate gives a unique softness to the wine not found in the Burgundy appellations further north.

Domaine de Chêne-Colombe is a family Domaine located in the northernmost part of the Macon region, just south of the Cotes Chalonnaise. The 3-hectare vineyard is planted entirely with Chardonnay on south-facing slopes at an average altitude of 200 meters. The soil is a thin cover of clay over a bed of limestone, covered with small white pebbles and numerous fossils; it is deep and cool, which makes for a slow ripening process and the development of complex flavors and aromas in the grapes.

The wine was light yellow with a hint of green and stuck to the glass with little definition at first, but then legs started to form. Nose was fragrant, lush, and floral, but refined at the same time. The same notes travel onto the palate with yellow apple, citrus, and white fruit. It was light, but flavorful, on the mouth and an easy sipper. I think it was $13 at Costco, but don’t completely recall (definitely under $15 though). I paired it with some sushi (nom nom). For the price, I totally dug it. 3.5/5.