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.

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!!

Old vine Clairette (120+ years old) that is really singing tonight, rich and somewhat ripe, great acidity and length, just a lovely old vine Lirac from a small vineyard, beautiful!!

Clearly the most youthful fruit of the three (15, 16 & 17), not quite as rich as the 2016, but clean, complex fruit, medium-long finish.

More primary fruit still compared to the 2015, fat and almost lush, starting to show nice viscousness, long finish, very fine!!

Lovely nutty and honeyed aromas, viscous, rich, medium-long finish, very old vine Clairette!!

Wildly fascinating, waxy and broad.