Wine of the Month - April 2021
Keep an eye out, at the end of the month we will be holding a virtual wine tasting that includes this white blend, along with two other wines chosen by yours truly. More details about this tasting will be coming out shortly.
For April's Wine of the Month, our in house team of wine experts have picked a fruity, fresh and mineral organic French white blend from the southern Rhône Valley near Nîmes.
Château Mourgues is a small family winery with about 40 hectares of vineyard area in southern Rhone, close to both Provence and Languedoc. Water, sun, wind and stone are the four main elements that make this terroir special.
The Rhone river is only a few kilometres from the vineyards and the Mediterranean coast isn’t too far away either. It’s hot climate with a strong influence of southern wind with its sea breezes and dry, cold Mistral from the north. The classic pebbles in the vineyards retain heat for the night during ripening season and also help the vine draw moisture from the depth of the soil.
This floral white blend is made from Roussanne, Grenache Blanc and Vermentino fermented in stainless steel and aged on its lees which resulted in a fairly complex wine with great balance and refreshing acidity.
The lowdown: Galets Dorés are the golden coloured, heat-retaining large pebbles that are found near the lower reaches of the Rhône where Château Mourges du Grès have their vineyards. It's great terroir and well suited to making this nice fresh and floral white which is a blend of Roussanne, Grenache Blanc and Vermentino. Organically produced with minimal use of sulphites it's fermented in stainless steel to retain maximum freshness and primary fruit expressiveness and then aged on its lees for 3 months to give a generous body and feel to complement the bold flavours. It's brilliantly fresh and floral with a crisp lively finish that has a touch of salinity.
When to drink: Lively and vivacious it's perfect just by itself and with food, it goes well with shellfish or a goat's cheese tart.
Situated just to the south-east of Nimes whilst technically in the Rhône valley this is an area that has more of a Provencal feel to it.
From this family estate, François Collard produces a small, but delicious, range of organic wines. The vineyards are composed of flat pebbles, called grès, and is planted with a mixture of Syrah, Grenache and, Mourvèdre together with Roussanne, Viognier and Grenache Blanc. Les Galets, also found in here are larger stones that heat up during the day and slowly release their warmth during the night, ideal for ripening their reds.
