Though I felt the “Jeunes Vignes” cuvee was marred by high alcohol, the regular bottling of the 2003 Macon-Chaintre is outstanding. It explodes from the glass with spiced pears that lead to taster to a fresh, medium-bodied personality. This concentrated effort is awash in white fruits that linger throughout its long. seamless finish. Drink it over the next 3-4 years. Visiting the Valette family, whose home/estate is perched on Chaintre’s hillside affording views of the Saone valley (all the way to the Alps), is always a fascinating adventure. Ever since the family patriarch, Gerard Valette, left the local coop, he and his family have been fiercely independent, bucking both viticultural and winemaking traditions. For example, when all their neighbors had finished harvesting the 2003s, the Valettes were waiting for the fruit to be ripe, and when all their neighbors had bottled and shipped their 2004s, the Valettes’ were still undergoing elevage. Sadly, this outstanding, iconoclastic estate, whose offerings grace the finest restaurant wine lists in France, is no longer imported into the United States.No American importer.