Winemaker Notes
Pair with grilled fish, Asian cuisine such as yakitoris, tempuras, or poke bowls. Can also be enjoyed as an aperitif.
Blend: 60% Clairette, 30% Viognier, 10% Grenache Blanc
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Effusive nose of ripe melon, apricot and orange blossom. Medium-bodied with ample ripeness, but a light-footed personality with lively acidity. A cuvee based on 60% viognier.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A Viognier-based blend with Roussanne and Grenache Blanc, the 2022 La Solitude Cotes du Rhone Blanc is assembled from purchased wine. This vintage seems especially successful, with hints of apple blossom joining apricot and melon notes on the nose. Plump and round in the mouth, this medium to full-bodied wine finishes on accent notes of peppery spice.
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.
Typically thought of as a baby Chateâuneuf-du-Pape, the term Côtes du Rhône actually doesn’t merely apply to the flatter outskirts of the major southern Rhône appellations, it also includes the fringes of well-respected northern Rhône appellations. White wines can be produced under the appellation name, but very little is actually made.
The region offers some of the best values in France and even some first-rate and age-worthy reds. Red wine varieties include most of the Chateâuneuf-du-Pape varieties like Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsault, and Counoise, as well as Carignan. White grapes grown include Grenache blanc, Roussanne and Viognier, among others.