Macon+Name of Village Wine Pairing Dinner at Carousel
Sebastien Lacharme lives up to his name, exuding French charm. He is a 3rd generation winemaker. He was one of many French winemakers from the Macon region to attending this rather fab wine dinner in London recently.

His grandparents started their family winery, Domain Lacharme in Chevegny-les-Chevieres in the Maconnais wine region in Bourgogne in 1953. His parents then took over the winemaking in 1987. Sebastien grew up with the business in his blood and started his apprenticeship when he was just 16.
This is a common story among the winemakers of the Macon region as several of the other winemakers in the room were 2nd or 3rd generation.
Sebastien is one of the new generation of winemakers in the region that used to be made up of small peasant farmers. With the new younger winemakers, comes new methods in marketing too. They are slowly embracing social media to make their wine and their region better known to a whole new audience.
In the last decade or so, due to the demand for authenticity and provenance, many of these smaller producers in Macon began to bottle wine under their own brand.
Wines of Bourgogne or Burgundy
Firstly, Bourgogne is the French name for Burgundy. Maconnais is one of the five wine regions in this region. The Macon AOC is over 40km of sunny hillsides that run along the River Saone. The terroir varies greatly through the length of this region. The Macon AOC region includes over 20 villages producing unique wines.
They people of Burgundy are fiercely proud of their product and there is a lively camaraderie between them. At each celebration, they have to sing their rousing drinking celebratory cry, the Bourgogne’s version of the Haka if you will.
Macon +Village Name Wine Pairing Dinner
You have probably heard of and drank Macon Village before since it is one of the UK’s most popular French White Wines.
Over 30 Macon wines from the villages in the Maconnais region showcased their wines. Chef Avinash Shahdhara was tasked with creating a menu to match these wines and his Indian inspired menu was stunning.
Starting off with canapes of cured sea trout with horseradish mayonnaise and Seaweed tarts with Goats curd and peas. These two wines were poured with the canapes. Macon-Chardonnay, 2015, Chateau de Messey and Macon-Lugny 2015, Cave de Lugny.
Before kicking off dinner proper, the French contingent started off with a rousing Bourgogne song.
For starters we had an unusual salad with split mung beans, cucumber, Datterrini tomatoes and this was paired with 3 whites.
- Macon-Fuisse 2015, Cave des Grands Crus Blancs
- Macon-Ige 2015, Domaine Pierre-Yves & Olivier Fichet
- Macon-La Roche-Vineuse 2015, Domaine Sylvaine & Alain Normand
For the next course, this rather gorgeous South Indian Fish Stew with Langoustine, Scallops, fresh coconut milk, tamarind, coriander and fermented rice cake.
The three whites paired with this course were:
Macon-Aze 2015, Cave d’Aze
Macon-Charmay-les-Macon 2015, Cave de Charmay-les-Macon
Macon Peronne 2015, Domaine de la Tour Penet
The next course was Chargrilled pigeon marinated in stone flower, ginger and lemon juice, served with golden and pink beetroot and wild sorrel.
This was paired with 2 red wines:
Macon-Serrieres 2015, Domaine Jean Michel Combier
Macon-La-Roche-Vineuse 2015, Domain LaCharme & Fils
The final sweet note was delivered by some gorgeous ginger madeleines and coffee.
Learn more about the wines of Macon and the Villages on their website.
EatCookExplore was a guest of Macon Wines