Domaine Mucyn Crozes-Hermitage Les Charmeuses 2023

The Crozes-Hermitage Les Charmeuses from Domaine Mucyn comes from the largest appellation of the northern Rhône Valley, on the left bank of the river, around the hill of Hermitage, in the Drôme. The family estate, based in Gervans in an 18th-century former boatmen’s house, farms around 14 hectares organically, under a semi-continental climate tempered by Mediterranean influences.

Made from Marsanne and Roussanne, the harvest is gently pressed to preserve the finesse of the juice. Part of the cuvée, around 20%, is aged in four-year-old oak barrels, while the rest matures in tank. Ageing lasts about nine months, to bring texture without masking the fruit or the freshness of the terroir.

This wine reveals notes of white lilac, hawthorn, gentian, apricot, peach, candied fruit, hazelnut and toasted bread. Beneath a pale gold colour with green glints, the nose blends floral scents, ripe fruit and toasty touches. The palate is rich and floral, both full and balanced, with flavourful substance and lovely length.

The cradle of wine culture in Western Europe, France owes its first vines to the Greeks of Phocaea, who settled around Marseille some twenty-six centuries ago, before the Romans spread viticulture along the Rhône and the Garonne and as far as Champagne. In the Middle Ages, Cistercian and Benedictine monks cleared the slopes of Burgundy and patiently mapped out the climats, laying the foundations of the notion of terroir. The 19th century brought the glory of the classifications, then the disaster of phylloxera, which wiped out the vineyards before they were rebuilt on American rootstocks; the creation of the appellations d'origine contrôlée in the 1930s then set the rules that would inspire the whole world. Today, France vies every year with Italy and Spain for first place in world production by volume and remains the ultimate benchmark of the Old World, as much for its age-worthy wines as for its winemaking models. Vineyards cover almost the entire country, from the cool north of Champagne and Alsace to the Mediterranean shores of Languedoc and Provence, by way of the oceanic climates of Bordeaux, the Loire and the South-West, continental Burgundy, the steep slopes of the northern Rhône and the high-altitude valleys of Savoie and the Jura. This mosaic of soils – limestone, schist, gravel or rounded pebbles – explains the extraordinary diversity of styles. As for grape varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominate Bordeaux and produce structured reds, Pinot Noir is the signature of Burgundian finesse, Syrah of the depth of the Rhône, while Grenache, Gamay, Cabernet Franc and Mourvèdre cover every register, from easy-drinking wines to wines for long ageing. Among the whites, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin, Riesling and Viognier offer expressions ranging from lively and mineral to unctuous, all the way to great sweet wines. A land of benchmarks and constant discoveries, France remains the compass for wine lovers the world over.