2022 ChevernyDomaine du Salvard
France | Loire
$22
Producers
White wines from Châteauneuf-du-Pape don’t have much of a reputation as a summer wine. I’ve never seen anyone with a bottle at the beach, or dropping ice cubes into a glass on a sunny terrace. It’s true they can often be quite rich, needing something equally rich and hearty for accompaniment. Thankfully, there are exceptions to every rule, and this is one. Roquète has a creamy, toasty side, balanced out with loads of citrus, minerality, and its signature anise-seed finish. That means you can really go glass after glass, be it beach, terrace (hold the ice cubes, though), sunshine, wherever . . . and you’ll always find yourself reaching for more.
—Chris Santini
Wine Type: | white |
Vintage: | 2020 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | 35% Clairette, 35% Roussanne, 30% Grenache Blanc |
Appellation: | Châteauneuf-du-Pape |
Country: | France |
Region: | Southern Rhône |
Producer: | Domaine la Roquète |
Winemaker: | Frédéric & Daniel Brunier |
Vineyard: | Planted in 1987, 3 ha |
Soil: | Sand on red clay and galets roulés |
Aging: | Wine ages in cuve and in barrel for 8 months before bottling |
Farming: | Lutte Raisonnée |
Alcohol: | 13.5% |
Château de Trinquevedel France | Southern Rhône | Tavel
Domaine Gallety France | Southern Rhône | Côtes du Vivarais
Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe France | Southern Rhône | Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Domaine Gramenon France | Southern Rhône | Côtes-du-Rhône
Château de Trinquevedel France | Southern Rhône | Tavel
Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe France | Southern Rhône | Châteauneuf-du-Pape
In September 1986, René Laugier wanted to retire but had no successors to take over La Roquette , his domaine in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. When Daniel and Frédéric Brunier bought the domaine, it was a logical choice. The brothers had been proving their worth as rising young stars of the appellation, and the Brunier family, proprietor of Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe, had a long history of working tough soils—they farm La Crau, which boasts some of the most challenging vineyard terrain and most pedigreed soils of Châteauneuf. Daniel and Frédéric purchased twenty-nine hectares of vineyards at La Roquète. The brothers replanted the Clos La Roquète to white in 1987; this is currently the only wine bottled under the La Roquète label.
The southern Rhône valley is Grenache country. It’s also known for its stones. With a viticulture history dating back well before the Popes arrived in the 12th century and one of France’s oldest appellations d'origine contrôlée, Châteauneuf-du-Pâpe, the southern Rhône is unquestionably one of France’s best known and premier winegrowing regions. The wines have the pedigree and age-worthiness of Burgundy and Bordeaux, but with a rustic, Mediterranean character. Like most wines from southern France, the reds, whites, and rosés are blends. Filling out the Grenache for the reds and rosés, you’ll often find Syrah, Carignan, Mourvèdre, and Cinsault. The common white grape varieties are Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Bourboulenc, Viognier, Roussane, and Marsanne among others. From the alluvial riverbed stones found in Lirac, Tavel, and Châteauneuf to the limestone cliffs of the Dentelles de Montmirail that influence Beaumes-de-Venise (where you’ll find excellent Muscat), Vacqueyras, and Gigondas, great terroir abounds.
Kermit’s entrance in the region came in the mid 1970s on his first trip with Richard Olney, an American ex-pat and friend of Alice Waters. On that trip, Richard introduced Kermit to the Brunier family of Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe. Soon after, Kermit began importing the Brunier’s wines—their Châteauneuf-du-Pape “La Crau” bottling remains a staple of our portfolio today. In the late 1990s Kermit teamed up with the Brunier family to purchase the famed Gigondas estate, Domaine Les Pallières. More than 40 years later, we now import wines from fifteen southern Rhône domaines spanning the entire area of the region.
Selected by Kermit Lynch France | Southern Rhône
Domaine Gramenon France | Southern Rhône | Côtes-du-Rhône
Maxime-François Laurent France | Southern Rhône | Côtes du Rhône
Domaine de Durban France | Southern Rhône | Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise
Domaine Gallety France | Southern Rhône | Côtes du Vivarais
Château de Trinquevedel France | Southern Rhône | Tavel
Domaine le Sang des Cailloux France | Southern Rhône | Vacqueyras
Domaine Le Sang des Cailloux France | Southern Rhône | Vacqueyras
Domaine de Durban France | Southern Rhône | Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise
Domaine Catherine Le Gœuil France | Southern Rhône | Cairanne
Domaine Les Pallières France | Southern Rhône | Gigondas
Famille Brunier France | Southern Rhône | Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch
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