Winemaker Notes
Blend: 40% Marsanne, 30% Ugni blanc, 25% Clairette, 5% Bourboulenc
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Plump, zesty and pure, with fragrant white peach and clementine humming with chalky mineral verve and saline energy. Zingy acidity brings chiseled refinement and freshness to the round palate, with good concentration. You can taste the sea spray. Marsanne, Ugni Blanc, Clairette and Bourboulenc. Drink now through 2028. 100 cases imported.
Full-bodied and flavorful, white Rhône blends originate from France’s Rhône Valley. Today these blends are also becoming popular in other regions. Typically some combination of Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier form the basis of a white Rhône blend with varying degrees of flexibility depending on the exact appellation. Somm Secret—In the Northern Rhône, blends of Marsanne and Roussanne are common but the south retains more variety. Marsanne, Roussanne as well as Bourboulenc, Clairette, Picpoul and Ugni Blanc are typical.
This small, sunny, coastal appellation near Bandol, is classic Provence. Sheltering Cassis from the cool, northerly winds, locally called mistral, tall sea cliffs tower above the region on its northern border. Directly to the south of Cassis, the warm blue waters of the Mediterranean keep it decidedly warm and mild. Cassis produces predominantly full-bodied and herb-driven white wine from Clairette and Marsanne and makes a small amount of rosé and red wine from Mourvèdre, Grenache and Cinsault. Confusingly, the sweet blackcurrant liqueur, Creme de Cassis, does not from Cassis, but instead is a spcialty of Burgundy.