The Mâconnais is Burgundy’s most generous and accessible face — a sun-drenched stretch of southern Burgundy where Chardonnay produces whites of a warmth, richness, and immediate appeal that make them among the most reliably pleasurable wines in France. Less austere than Chablis, less grand than the Côte de Beaune, the Mâconnais offers something that is in many ways more immediately rewarding: ripe, expressive Chardonnay with real Burgundian character and complexity, at prices that make it one of the great overachievers of the wine world. Cave de Buxy is one of the Mâconnais’s most respected and celebrated cooperatives — a producer of genuine quality and ambition whose wines consistently punch well above their weight and whose commitment to the terroir of southern Burgundy is evident in every bottle. The Jules Richard is their tribute to one of the region’s great winemaking figures, and a Mâcon Azé of real character and distinction. The 2022 is immediately and completely appealing: a very attractive nose of buttered apple, pear, and delicate floral characters, with a distinct nuttiness that adds a lovely richness and depth, sitting perfectly alongside a marked freshness and streaks of tropical fruit that give the wine a vitality and lift that is entirely its own. At £19.99, it is Mâconnais Chardonnay at its most characterful and complete.