white grape · regional staple

Melon de Bourgogne

Burgundy, France

Say it

meh·londuhboor·gon·yuh

/mə.lɔ̃ də buʁ.ɡɔɲ/French

Final -e in Bourgogne is silent; -gn- is a palatal nasal, like 'ny' in 'canyon'

On the palate

Body light

Acidity high

Aromatics low

lemonlimegreen applewet stonesalinitybread dough

How you spot it blind: briny oyster-shell salinity with a persistent saline mineral finish

The story

First written down · 1616, Pays Nantais, Loire Valley

A natural cross of Heunisch Weiss (Gouais Blanc) and Pinot — the same parents as Chardonnay, confirmed by DNA (Bowers 1999) — first documented in a 1616 Nantes lease contract; repeatedly expelled from Burgundy by ducal decree, it survived in the Loire, where the catastrophic 1709 frost eliminated competing varieties and cemented its monopoly in the Pays Nantais.

Family tree: Heunisch Weiss × Pinot

Where it lives

Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine, Loire Valley, France · Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu, Loire Valley, France · Muscadet Coteaux de la Loire, Loire Valley, France

Shows up as

still whiteMuscadetMuscadet sur lieMuscadet Sèvre-et-Maine

If you like this, try

Albariño →Picpoul de PinetAligoté

Also answers to Melon, Muscadet.

Shop our Melon de Bourgogne bottles