Chateau de Saint Cosme 2021 Cotes du Rhone Blanc "Hominis Fides"

"100 % Clairette.
Limestone sand from the Miocene sea, in the ‘Hominis Fides’ named vineyard.
Fermentation in used casks and ageing on fine lees for 10 months. Gunflint, anise, pear and quince. The young massal selection vines in Hominis Fides are growing, developing, putting down deep roots and producing beautiful fruit. Every year, we can see the identity of the vineyard asserting itself and differentiating itself from Le Poste. It is true that the Miocene sea sand offers a truly remarkable foundation both for Grenache and Clairette. We prune the vines as bush vines and lift them on stakes so that we never have to top the shoots in spring. I am against the use of topping in a Mediterranean climate – it makes no sense to use this mini-pruning technique and force vines to grow secondary buds just when they need their fruit to flower.
In 2021, white Hominis Fides is clean and echoes the coolness of the location where the cold that constantly flows down into Saint Cosme vale stops."

Château de Saint Cosme is the leading estate of Gigondas and produces the appellation’s benchmark wines. Wine has been produced on the site of Saint Cosme since Roman times, evident by the ancient Gallo-Roman vats carved into the limestone below the château. The property has been in the hands of Louis Barruol’s family since 1490. Henri and Claude Barruol took over in 1957 and gradually moved Saint Cosme away from the bulk wine business. Henri was one of the first in the region to work organically beginning in the 1970s. Louis Barruol took over from his father in 1992, making a dramatic shift to quality, adding a négociant arm to the business in 1997, and converting to biodynamics in 2010.