More white wine from the Languedoc

A PS to my blog of last week about white wine with some more delicious examples.

Notes Pures, Pays de Caux – 12.00€

Firstly, a visit to my friend Christine at the relatively new estate of Domaine Ste Cécile du Parc outside the village of Caux.  She and her husband Stéphane bought the property in 2005 and found that their vineyards already included a planting of Sauvignon Blanc, but they really needed to plant some more white vines, so they decided to follow the advice of their Chilean oenologist and augment the Sauvignon Blanc with some Sauvignon Gris, which is very much rarer in the Languedoc.  Indeed, I do not know of anyone else with that variety.   Does anyone?  And the resulting blend, half of each variety, is delicious.  A small proportion of the wine is aged in barrel, but the oak is very nicely integrated and both nose and palate have the fresh pithy minerality that is the benchmark of Sauvignon blanc, without the blowsiness that you sometimes find in Languedoc Sauvignon, with an extra je ne sais quoi, that comes from the Sauvignon Gris.

2016  Domaine de Joncas, Alba, Pays de Mont Baudile – 22.00€

Domaine de Joncas is a relatively new estate in Montpeyroux, beginning with Joia a red wine in 2011 and now there are two white wines in the range.  With great imagination and taking advantage of the liberty of the Languedoc, Pascal Dalier planted Rhine Riesling and produced Canta. Pascal had a hunch  that Riesling might work on his terroir and indeed it does, with some dry honey and firm acidity, but I prefer his more traditionally languedocien Alba which is pure Grenache Gris that is aged in concrete eggs.  There is structure and minerality and firm acidity and some floral notes, and the vineyards are up in the limestone hills above Montpeyroux, near the canyon of Joncas after which the estate is named.

2015 Mas Bruguière, les Mûriers, Languedoc Blanc

We tend to treat the Bistro d'Ariane at Lattes as our departure lounge as it is only ten minutes from Montpellier airport.  And that is where we were at end of last week, softening the return to

London with a delicious lunch, a very original tabbouleh, made not with couscous but with finely chopped cauliflower, and then a dish of cod with generous quantities of garlic and white beans.  And to wash all that down we opted for a bottle of 2015 Mas Bruguière, les Mûriers blanc, a satisfying blend of Roussanne and Marsanne from a leading Pic St. Loup producer.  Pic St. Loup is only ever red, so this is appellation Languedoc.  The flavours of white blossom were wonderfully satisfying with texture and mouthfeel on the palate and just a hint of oak.  It was drinking deliciously and would continue to develop for several years.