Jean-Claude Marsanne, Marsanne, Saint-Joseph Blanc, Northern Rhône, France 2019

100% Marsanne

This wine is like eating lemon curd at a party that Renoir might have painted.

From the lieux-dits Les Oliviers (60%) Les Opateyres (30%) Montagnon (10%). Whole clusters are pressed gently. Fermented in tonneaux for 6 weeks before being racked to smaller barrels. Wine ages for 11 months in 228L barrels.

The Marsanne family, as their name attests, has a long and deep-rooted history in the northern Rhône, in particular around Mauves, the birthplace of the Saint-Joseph appellation. In 1920, current owner Jean-Claude’s grandfather, Jean-Pierre, became the first in the family to focus solely on vineyards—no easy task given the impossibly steep slopes of Mauves, where everything must be worked by hand and pickaxe. 

Jean-Claude took over the estate in 1991 and holds tightly to the traditions of his family. These include farming the steepest parcels by hand, as was done by his grandfather; using indigenous yeasts for slow, natural fermentations, like his father taught him; and aging his wines extensively on fine lees, releasing each cuvée at its most expressive moment.