Comtesse Madeleine de Montfaucon Côtes du Rhône Clairette

Flinty minerality, orange peel and a distinct and intense shot of herbes de Provence. The lack of fruit might leave you wondering where the 93 point RPWA score came from, but this is a focused, unique, and mind-bending wine from 140+ year old vines. Pairs awesomely with French fries.

Stunning wine. 140+ yr old Clairette vines on a terraced hillside over looking the Rhone.

From goblet-trained old-vine Clairette in Lirac (vineyard was “planted before 1870) on a hill overlooking the Rhône on the west side of the river, this lovely white wine shows honey and minerals, also some very nice acidity to balance, Clairette (which I adore) rarely shows the more viscous textural notes I get from southern Rhône Blancs that are mostly Roussanne and/or Marsanne (the latter mostly found in the northern Rhône), very good finish, lovely wine!!
I have actually walked this vineyard (6 years ago), the gnarled old vines are a pretty cool sight!!

See my note on the 2014 I just posted about the vineyard, this 2016, from a great southern Rhône vintage, is richer, still shows honey and minerals, but not heavy, long finish, I’d guess good bottles of this will last another 3-5 years!!

Honeyed, rich, viscous, very good balancing acidity, round and very long, lingering finish, I think fully mature (or very close), this is a brilliant 120+-year -old Lirac blanc from 100% Clairette!! (@Tom Casagrande, this is the other Lirac blanc, same producer as the other, back label has all information.)

[99% Clairette, 1% Grenache Blanc] the Grenache Blanc — at 1% — really shows up front aromatically and on the palate, this is clearly more youthful than the 2016, though less viscous on the palate, quite fresh and fine!!

Old-vine Clairette, from a Lirac vineyard planted in 1870, loads of minerality and wild herbs, faint flinty aromatic note that carries into the palate, excellent acidity and length, wonderful southern Rhône blanc!!

Lovely floral and mineral aromas and flavors from these super old Clairette vines in Lirac (I’ve walked this vineyard, and they are old head-pruned, super-gnarled, vines), this vintage has aged beautifully and is still not at peak, outstanding!!

Much more evolved than the 2017 we drank earlier tonight, this is clearly mature, both color-wise and aromatically, viscous and rich, very good, but not outstanding.

Lots of mineral notes, viscous on the palate with just a touch of aged bottle sweetness, excellent intensity, seems to have just reached its plateau of maturity, lovely!!