Domaine of the Bee Discipline of the Bee, IGP Côtes Catalanes Blanc, France 2021 (from £16, thesampler.co.uk; domaineofthebee.com; villeneuvewines.com; chesterswinemerchants.co.uk) Like many individuals, I’ve been totally transformed to the fun of the grenache (or garnacha because it’s recognized in Spain) grape selection over the previous few years, thanks largely to a brand new wave of crimson wines produced from the variability in a lightweight, smooth, juicily red-fruited, intensely drinkable type. Domaine of the Bee – an property within the rugged far south of France’s grenache nation close to the border with Spain owned by English couple Justin and Amanda Howard-Sneyd with their French good friend Philippe Sacerdot – makes the most effective of this breed I’ve tasted just lately: a gloriously rosehip-tangy, raspberry-racy coulis gently infused with wild rosemary and thyme that goes by the identify of The Bee Aspect 2021 (£19.50, domaineofthebee.com). The Bee group make a number of different spectacular garnacha (and carignan) crimson wines in a plusher, deeper type, however additionally they do superb issues with grenache noir’s white (and grey-ish pink) cousins: grenache blanc and grenache gris within the drowsily honey, honeysuckle, and peach-scented high-summer cuvee of Discipline of the Bee.
The Search Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne 2021 (£9.99, Waitrose) Provided that the blanc is a mutation of the noir unique, it’s not stunning that locations which are good at making grenache reds are usually the locations the place grenache blanc thrives. In what has been historically the house of the world’s most sought-after grenache-based reds, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, within the fats pebble-strewn soils round Avignon within the southern Rhône Valley, for instance, grenache blanc is the mainstay of the lesser-spotted white blends. With their characteristically heady, full-bodied attract, and, within the case of Le Vieux Donjon Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 2020 (£45, yapp.co.uk), the beautiful mixture of each the ripe summer time fruit and spring blossom of an apricot orchard, they are often not less than as beguiling and evocative of their approach because the reds. Grenache blanc can be more and more common in blends in South Africa, the place the Rhône is a supply of inspiration for winemakers working within the Cape’s hotter areas: The Search’s Rhône-ish mix is vigorous, peachy, but recent – and glorious worth.
El Garbi Blanco, Terra Alta, Spain 2020 (£20, riseandvine.co.uk) The tough equal of Châteauneuf-du-Pape in Spain – the place the place garnacha is used to make solar-powered crimson wines of huge complexity that command usually excessive costs – is Priorat in Catalonia. Right here, too, you’ll discover garnacha blanca (or garnatxa blana to make use of the Catalan spelling) as essentially the most vital white selection, blended, once more like Châteauneuf, with a handful of different varieties within the area’s comparatively small, however intensely beguiling, choice of white wines. Terroir al Restrict Històric Blanc 2019 (£25.50, nattyboywines.co.uk) is one in every of my favourites, a gently grippy, full-flavoured dry white wherein garnacha blanca is pepped up with just a little macabeu and that takes you on to the woody herb perfume of a Mediterranean hillside. For a way of what garnacha blanca can do by itself, nevertheless, one other high-up Catalan area, Terra Alta, has made the variability one thing of a speciality in recent times, with the broad mouthfilling wealthy peach and creaminess given freshness by a cool underlying stoniness.
Comply with David Williams on Twitter @Daveydaibach
Post a Comment