DOMAINE DU MONTEILLET ST JOSEPH BLANC, GRAND DUC DU MONTEILLET
Exceptionally well made Rhône white. Generous and well textured, this is a lovely wine. The Grand Duc is a rare owl local to the domaine.
St Joseph, Northern Rhône
2016
13% ABV.
58% Marsanne, 42% Roussanne
75cl
£37.95
Price includes VAT
Tasting notes:
Powerful and waxy with aromas of garrigue and warm earth, there is underlying structure one would expect of a wine with this class.
About the wine:
The Grapes for the St. Joseph Blanc are grown on older vines, leading to a lower yield but significanlty higher quality fruit, with more depth of flavour. The vineyard soils are mainly granitic in composition, giving excelent mineral characteristics to the wines.
The grapes are harvest manually into small wooden boxes to prevent grape damage beofre reaching the winery. The picked grapes are sorted, selecting only the best berries, in the vineyard and secondly in the winery before destemming.
Fermentation is closely controlled, keeping the temperature low and the period long (3-4 weeks) and only naturally occurring indigenous yeasts are used.
After fermentation, the St Joseph is aged in french Oak for 10 months
The Grand-Duc is a rare owl who surveys the vines in the regional natural park of Pilat where Stéphane's domain is situated.
About the producer:
Stéphane Montez' family have been growing grapes in the Northern Rhône for ten generations and today have vineyards in Condrieu, Côte Rôtie and Saint-Joseph.
After formally studying winemaking, tenth generation vigneron Stéphane, not content with simply growing grapes as his forefathers had done, travelled to south Africa, Australia, California and even England to experience winemaking outside France, before returning to the family's vineyards to make wine from the grapes they had expertly tended, and which truly express the French terroir of the prime sites they own.
The winery was founded in 1732 and Stéphane, the young, talented and dynamic winemaker, took over the family vineyard in 1997.
Food match:
The St Joseph Blanc would be a lovely match for seafod and fish, in particular river fish such as trout. I think it would work very well too with some harder cheeses.
