Clos Sainte Magdeleine Cassis Blanc Bel-Arme 2016
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Pale yellow, brilliant and limpid. Very floral, with spicy notes in the nose. On the palate, suave and opulent attack, combining fat and creaminess. Beautiful silky material offering a lot of minerality. The finale is a long, complex, fragrant honey, maintained by a fruity freshness.
Blend: 65% Marsanne, 15% Clairette, 15% Ugni Blanc, 5% Bourboulenc
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Wine & Spirits
Just below the Cap Canaille, a cliff looming above the port of Cassis, this terraced parcel holds a mix of clairette, marsanne, ugni blanc and bourboulenc planted 50-some years ago. Jonathan Sack-Zafiropulo, the fourth generation of the family at the estate, ferments and ages the wine in cement eggs, working the lees to give the wine its creamy, rich texture. It’s the scent of the sea, however, that’s especially bewitching, imbuing the wine’s peachy fruit with a stony, oceanic savor.
Cassis is what Kermit calls “an earthly paradise.” The vineyards of Clos Sainte Magdeleine are particularly stunning, jutting out on a private cape to meet majestic limestone cliffs, poised spectacularly above the sparkling, azure Mediterranean. Only a handful of vignerons today are fortunate enough to produce A.O.C. Cassis, and the small quantities available are largely consumed locally with fresh fish—the best way to enjoy them. The Sack-Zafiropulos family has been making wine here for four generations and continues to craft wines of grace and finesse. Their success lies in an uncanny ability to capture nerve and sun-kissed unctuousness in the wines, making them both incredibly food-friendly and delicious entirely on their own.
Full-bodied and flavorful, white Rhône blends originate from France’s Rhône Valley. Today these blends are also becoming popular in other regions. Typically some combination of Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier form the basis of a white Rhône blend with varying degrees of flexibility depending on the exact appellation. Somm Secret—In the Northern Rhône, blends of Marsanne and Roussanne are common but the south retains more variety. Marsanne, Roussanne as well as Bourboulenc, Clairette, Picpoul and Ugni Blanc are typical.
This small, sunny, coastal appellation near Bandol, is classic Provence. Sheltering Cassis from the cool, northerly winds, locally called mistral, tall sea cliffs tower above the region on its northern border. Directly to the south of Cassis, the warm blue waters of the Mediterranean keep it decidedly warm and mild. Cassis produces predominantly full-bodied and herb-driven white wine from Clairette and Marsanne and makes a small amount of rosé and red wine from Mourvèdre, Grenache and Cinsault. Confusingly, the sweet blackcurrant liqueur, Creme de Cassis, does not from Cassis, but instead is a spcialty of Burgundy.