Description
For the first time, Stéphane decided to vinify their oldest Marsanne vines from 80+ year old vines in Erôme, planted mostly on white loam (completely decomposed limestone rich clay and sand). Stéphane once again did not do malolactic on this wine, preferring to keep the freshness and cut to counterbalance Marsanne’s rich textured fruit. Aged in barrel a single twice used demi muid that he used in the past two vintages where the old vine material was blended into the basic cuvée. It presents classical Marsanne aromas of tropical florals, then leading to a richly textured palate presence that has great lift and sense of lingering perfume. When I came back to this an hour or so later, the baby fat had toned down a bit, and sense of tension/mineral cut became more present; indeed, there is terrific depth of material here, with oxygenation helping it to unfold. For the money, a silly silly good value. Stéphane is really honing in on bringing more dynamism and freshness with his white wine production in the four vintages that I have witnessed, with this first time experiment proving to be a culmination of his learning/efforts…..
