2022 Roger Perrin Côtes du Rhône Blanc ‘Prestige’

50% Viognier, 40% Grenache Blanc and 10% Clairette from 20 year old vines. The hand-harvested fruit is picked, vinified and aged as seprate varietals in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks sur lie with punch downs for 5 months. No malolactic fermentation is carried out in order to keep a natural acidity. 13.5% alcohol. 

Pours a lovely golden yellow yellow color. Fragrant aromas of pears, stone fruit, honeysuckle, honey and white flowers. Medium to full bodied, dry and round, with similar flavors to the nose and lively but not overly brisk acidity. 

Vineyards have existed on the Roger Perrin property between Orange and Châteauneuf since the beginning of the 1900’s. However, the Domaine Roger Perrin was founded in 1969 when Roger Perrin took it over after his father-in-law’s retirement. Roger died unexpectedly during the harvest in 1986, and his son Luc took over the domaine. Luc had studied enology and done an apprenticeship at Château de Beaucastel, which is managed by another family named Perrin. Slowly Luc Perrin increased the quality at his domaine so that people began to recognize his name as a producer rather than mistakenly as one of the “Beaucastel Perrins.” The two families, although neighbors and friends, actually have no genetic ties. Perrin’s holdings include 40 hectares of vineyards, spread out over 70 different plots. While some of the vines are more than 100 years old, the average age of the vines is 60 years old and 85% of the vines are over 20 years of age. The Châteauneuf vines are planted on two types of soil: clay and limestone subsoil covered by the galets roulés (so familiar to anyone who has seen Châteauneuf vineyards), and a sandier soil which gives wines that show a little more aromatic and tannic finesse.