Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with vacherin, beaufort and fresh goat cheeses, capon, rabbit and chicken, rockfish, halibut, shrimp, apricots, leeks and pumpkins.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Costières de Nîmes Nostre Païs is another winner. Made from 52% Grenache Blanc, 22% Roussanne, 17% Viognier and the balance Clairette and Bourboulenc, it exhibits outstanding notes of citrus blossom, white flowers, licorice and green apple. Medium-bodied, fresh, pretty and focused, it should be better in the next four to six months (probably by the time you read this) and drink well for 1-2 years.
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Wine Spectator
Lively, with wet straw, white ginger, white peach and apricot notes driving along, carried by a twinge of matchstick through the finish. Drink now. 3,000 cases made.
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.
Gently rolling hills covered by large, round stones on south-facing slopes, Costieres de Nimes is a substantial IGP zone that was formerly considered part of the Languedoc. Today it is included as a section of the southern Rhone; its climate, topography and wines put it more in line with that appellation. Grenache is its most important red variety, along with Mourvedre, Syrah and Carignan. Half of the production here is rosé.