Tasting Henri Goyard's Mâcon-Viré for the first time was a true revelation. We were stunned: the local coops' wines were correct at best, the handful of estate-made Mâcons we had tasted, a notch superior, and even the barrel-fermented Chardonnays from the Côte d'Or had not prepared us for this experience.

This wine was rich, lush, intensely fruity and fat, with marvelous weight and length. It was powerful, yet fresh and lively, and its aromas of buttery, roasted nuts lingered on. We tasted here for the first time in 1986 and a year later we were in the wine business. If wines this good were not available in America, we decided there was a role for specialist importers.

Henri Goyard's estate is 14 acres and his wines, in worldwide demand, are allocated in miniscule quantities. Goyard’s vines date back to his grandfather, and he works the land in a traditional fashion—minimal use of fertilizers and chemical treatments, low yields, manual harvesting late in the season, and bottling a year after the grapes are picked. Goyard does not age in oak, because he prefers the fruit of the Chardonnay to show on its own. His wine’s strength, its intense flavors of toasted bread and grilled nuts underlying the fruit, prove that no wood is needed here. Goyard’s wine often takes months to finish its alcoholic fermentation, and there is usually some residual sugar that nicely complements a good acidity level and makes for a fresh and mellow mouth. Delicious in its youth, the wine also ages gracefully, acquiring more intense roasted notes, and sometimes, the deeply mineral character often associated with Riesling, rather than Chardonnay.

Goyard is a reserved and feisty person, who has made many enemies in this village of coop growers by challenging the coop’s vine-tending and winemaking philosophy. He is also very generous, and always accepts busloads of elderly tourists looking for a free tasting, even if that means putting his customers on yet smaller allocations.

This is an expensive wine for the Mâconnais but it is exceptional and a testimony to the fame Viré historically enjoyed as the leading wine village in the area. So it is particularly ironic that Goyard and his friend Jean Thévenet in Clessé should be prevented from using the Viré-Clessé AOC recently created by the INAO; but they are, and Goyard’s Viré is now labelled: Mâcon-Village.

Henri Goyard is now retired, and we are sad to present his last vintage, 2000. We welcome his successor at Domaine de Roally, Gauthier Thévenet. Gauthier is Jean’s son (Domaine de Bongran) and we expect great wines from him in the future (his young 2002 Montbellet looks very promising).