Winemaker Notes
This wine can be enjoyed young to appreciate its magnificent minerality and complex fruit aromas, or it may be cellared for four to twelve years to reveal a rich character with notes of honey and crystallized fruits, and it is delicious on its own as an aperitif or paired with oysters, foie gras, or grilled fish, offering a truly unique experience.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
A wine with character, the 2024 IGP Saint-Guilhem-Le-Désert Cité D’Aniane Blanc is undoubtedly one of the finest whites from the South of France. A blend of more than six grape varieties, it stands out thanks to their complementary nature. The highly complex bouquet reveals aromatic herbs, candied lemon, bitter almond, ginger, puffed rice, lemon balm, and flowering garrigue. Supple and well-rounded, the elements of the wine intertwine and unravel, revealing great depth, density, and length, with perfect balance and melt-in-the-mouth freshness. A gastronomic white, it is very food-friendly and, despite its complexity, a superb wine for pure enjoyment. Drink 2025-2045.
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Decanter
What a lovely wine. This has a lot more tension than I expected, it's full of lean citrus, wild fennel, fresh dill and fresh herbs, green and yellow apple, with a silky oily finish. But there's this real sense of stones and minerals, a pithy texture and a spicy character on the finish. Really long and concentrated, saline and full of energy. It's delightful now, but will age well into the medium term. The Gassac signature blend of many grape varieties, local, international and more obscure and rare, including Viognier, Petit Manseng, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc.
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Vinous
Macerated for roughly three days and aged for four months in stainless steel, the 2024 Blanc unwinds with ripe apricot, white peach, yellow apple and a subtle flinty touch. Round and concentrated, the 2024 races across the medium- to full-bodied palate, accompanied by a firm line of zesty acidity that keeps everything in check. It finishes with persistence on the complex finale.
Rating: 92+ -
Wine Spectator
A sleek, silky white, with high-toned floral notes followed by a juicy core of yellow plum and pink grapefruit, threaded with salt and fresh-cut chives. Acidity blazes through, and an energizing beam of finely crushed, chalky mineral and flint smoke details revs up the densely packed finish. Complex and vibrant. Viognier, Petit Manseng, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc.
With hundreds of white grape varieties to choose from, winemakers have the freedom to create a virtually endless assortment of blended white wines. In many European regions, strict laws are in place determining the set of varieties that may be used in white wine blends, but in the New World, experimentation is permitted and encouraged. Blending can be utilized to enhance balance or create complexity, lending different layers of flavors and aromas. For example, a variety that creates a soft and full-bodied white wine blend, like Chardonnay, would do well combined with one that is more fragrant and naturally high in acidity. Sometimes small amounts of a particular variety are added to boost color or aromatics. Blending can take place before or after fermentation, with the latter, more popular option giving more control to the winemaker over the final qualities of the wine.
An extensive appellation producing a diverse selection of good quality and great values, Languedoc spans the Mediterranean coast from the Pyrenees mountains of Roussillon all the way to the Rhône Valley. Languedoc’s terrain is generally flat coastal plains, with a warm Mediterranean climate and frequent risk of drought.
Virtually every style of wine is made in this expansive region. Most dry wines are blends with varietal choice strongly influenced by the neighboring Rhône Valley. For reds and rosés, the primary grapes include Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, Cinsault and Mourvèdre. White varieties include Grenache Blanc, Muscat, Ugni Blanc, Vermentino, Macabéo, Clairette, Piquepoul and Bourbelenc.
International varieties are also planted in large numbers here, in particular Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon.
The key region for sparkling wines here is Limoux, where Blanquette de Limoux is believed to have been the first sparkling wine made in France, even before Champagne. Crémant de Limoux is produced in a more modern style.