Found in Cruzille in the Mâconnais, Clos des Vignes du Maynes is now in the hands of Julien Guillot. This is a particularly old, Burgundy domain that dates back to the 10th century, more specifically to the time when Cluny Abbey was founded by the Duke of Aquitaine. The domain then belonged to many generations of country people until it was bought by Pierre and Jeanna Guillot in 1952. They have never used chemicals, always working as naturally as possible. After passing the torch on to their son Alain, who has played an important role in the promotion of organics in France, his son Julien who joined the domain in 1998 represents the third generation of the family to work at the domain. The vineyard spans 7 hectares planted with Pinot Noir, Gamay and Chardonnay. The harvests are carried out by hand with careful selection. In the winery, everything is done naturally with very little intervention: fermentation occurs with indigenous yeasts, and no sulphur or additives are used. The red wines undergo semi-carbonic maceration with a mini-punching over and light stirring. They are matured in barrels and there is no filtering at the end. Julien Guillot wishes to make ‘sharing wines' and he succeeds wonderfully with his high-quality and uncommonly elegant cuvées

In Mâcon, we musn’t forget about the red varietals used to produce marvels. This is the case of the “Cuvée Auguste”, crafted by one of the Mâconnais’ most historic producers: Domaine des Vignes du Maynes. This wine is made from Pinot fin of extremely rare massal selections that date back to 1964. These vines were planted by the monks of Cluny Abbey around 910 in a clay- and chalk-rich soil that confers a beautiful minerality to this wine. Work in the vineyard has been organic since 1945 and biodynamic since 1998, so we’re talking about pioneers here. We recommend ageing this cuvée for 10 to 20 years depending on the cellar conditions, before opening it with a dish like guinea fowl.