Winemaker Notes
Delicious as an aperitif. Serve it with grilled fish in light sauce,vegetable pies, seafood or salads and goat cheese.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Some wines just taste right—we wine guys call them: classics. The 2013 Louis Bernard Château Noël Saint Laurent Côtes du Rhone Blanc is such a wine. Made from Viognier, Marsanne and Bourboulenc, the wine exhibits stone fruits, sweet earth and light flowers in the flavors. Pair with terrine de canard aux poivrons and see why classics never get old. Drinking very well now. (Tasted: June 29, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
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.