2017 Vigneti Le Monde Chardonnay Friuli Italy 750 ml

When we find a wine that delivers both sophistication and universal appeal, we take note. When we find a wine that delivers sophistication and universal appeal for under $20, we take numbers, names, emails, addresses, we hold the door, we’ll take out the trash if we have to. 

RARELY have we come across a wine like the 2017 Vigneti Le Monde Chardonnay, winner of Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri, Italy’s most prestigious wine award. Wonderfully luminous and crisp, but showing surprising richness, it beautifully toes the line between orchard and tropical fruits. Threaded with white flowers and stony minerality, it’s spring in a bottle, at an unbeatable price. 

We discovered the 2017 Le Monde last year at the 53rd annual Vinitaly Expo in Verona. At the Super Bowl of Italian wine events, industry professionals from all over the world come to taste—and with any luck, purchase—the best wines Italy has to offer. When we tried owner Alex Maccan’s award-winning Chardonnay we were immediately smitten, but to our dismay, soon found out that so was most of Italy—almost the entire production was earmarked for domestic consumption. 

After almost a year of courtship and persuading Maccan over dinner at Verona’s two Michelin-starred Casa Perbellini, we were able to lock in the ONLY U.S. allocation of the 2017 Vigneti Le Monde Chardonnay—and it was all worth it, to offer Wine Access members a stunning Tre Bicchieri-winning white at under $20.

The magic of this extraordinary Chardonnay undoubtedly comes from its origins on the high plains of Friuli. There, 30-year-old vines are sheltered to the north by the Italian Alps, while benefiting from the breezy maritime influence of the Adriatic Sea to the south. Less than 10% of Vigneti Le Monde’s vineyard is planted to Chardonnay, but the calcareous clay soils are an ideal match for the grape, providing the drainage necessary to produce clean, pure fruit with polish and lifted florals. 

The locals call the soil grave, and it’s littered with pebbles and rocks, which reflect sunlight back on the grapes during the day and absorb heat to be released at night, ensuring the Chardonnay is well-ripened. The resulting tinge of tropical fruit is a hallmark of Friuli, and lends a certain depth that perfectly rounds out the racy notes of Meyer lemon and golden apple. 

Since purchasing the winery in 2008, Alex Maccan has spared no expense in taking the estate to the next level. With one foot rooted in traditional and sustainable winemaking practices and the other in state of the art technology, Maccan has catapulted Vigneti Le Monde to its greatest height to date. 

Today’s 2017 Friuli Chardonnay proves that and more, offering pure pleasure at a bargain price. Not that there’s anything to compare it to… on this side of the Atlantic anyway.