Les Cassagnes de La Nerthe Blanc 2023

Les Cassagnes de La Nerthe Blanc comes from the Massif d’Uchaux, an intimate, wooded area in the north of the Vaucluse, in the heart of the southern Rhône Valley. Château La Nerthe, a historic estate of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, grows vines there on varied, very free-draining soils of sand, clay and limestone rock fragments. The hot, dry Mediterranean climate is tempered by the mistral, which keeps the vineyard healthy.

After sorting in the vineyard, the Viognier, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne and Marsanne grapes are pressed without delay, to preserve their full aromatic potential. The must is then settled, and fermentation takes place in stainless-steel tanks at low temperature. The wine, aged without oak to retain its freshness, is bottled about seven months after the harvest.

This wine reveals notes of fresh pear, apricot, white peach, vine peach, honeysuckle, lemon, grapefruit zest and fresh almond. Beneath a pale gold colour with green glints, the appealing nose blends orchard fruit and floral accents. The palate is delicious yet fresh, never heavy, and ends on a broad, zesty, slightly bitter finish.

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.