Winemaker Notes
Pretty deep yellow dress. This wine offers a nose of beautiful aromatic complexity, with notes of apple and apricot, white flowers and very subtle toasted notes. Delicate and fresh, on the palate, this wine reveals intense aromas of white flowers, apples and exotic fruit like pineapple and lychee. A long finish with a delicate bitterness.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A 50-50 blend of Marsanne and Roussanne, the 2019 Hermitage Blanc Maison Les Alexandrins may be the best vintage of this wine yet. It's ripe and rich, yet balanced, with a fine line of acidity that lingers in mouth watering fashion on the finish. Hints of peach, pear and melon appear on the nose, framed by toasted nuts and mocha, while the full-bodied palate is lush and generous. It's delicious now, or you could cellar it and enjoy it in more truffled splendor 10 years from now.
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Wine Spectator
Juicy and still just a bit compact, with chamomile, honeysuckle and verbena notes leading off for a core of lively white peach, star fruit and yellow apple flavors. Quinine hint on the finish. Marsanne and Roussanne.
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Wine Enthusiast
A pleasantly grassy tang of green almond mingles into smoke and toast in this moderately full-bodied blend of 60% Marsanne and 40% Roussanne. Matured only partially in oak, it's a svelte white marked by crisp grapefruit and red-apple flavors. Best enjoyed now–2025.
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.
Crozes-Hermitage is Northern Rhone’s largest appellation, surrounding the steep granite faces of Hermitage to its north and south. Here the rolling vineyards are less extreme and its soils, rich in clay-limestone and alluvial matter, produce Syrahs that range from fruity and charming to lush and seductive. The Syrahs of Crozes-Hermitage have more mass than those from St. Joseph but are less intense than those from Hermitage. While many are intended for early consumption, some of the best Syrahs from Crozes-Hermitage will age beautifully for 5-10 years.
Up to 15% of white grapes may theoretically be added to red Crozes at the time of fermentation but whether this is done or not depends on the decision of the winemaker. The best Crozes-Hermitage Syrahs will be fleshy with black fruit (currant, blackberry and black cherry) and bay leaf qualities, notes of tar and stone, and a well-concentrated finish of smooth tannins.
About a tenth of the wine produced in Crozes-Hermitage is white, primarily composed of Marsanne supplemented by smaller amounts of Roussanne.