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The Marsanne Grape


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About Marsanne

(Synonyms: Avilleran, Ermitage, Hermitage, Grosse Roussette, Marsanne Blanche, Roussette de Saint-Péray.)

Background

Map showing the Rhône region of France.

Marsanne is a white-wine grape originating in the northen Rhône region of France, which remains its primary home today. It is an important ingredient grape in Rhône white blends, along with Roussette, considered a natural partner variety. But Marsanne is now being seen more and more as a monovarietal, especially in Australia, where the variety has found a second home.

When vinified as a monovarietal, its essence is richness. Marsanne tends to make deeply colored thick wines with fairly low acids but high alcohol, and modest aromas and flavors of almond and honeysuckle, sometimes with a bit of spice overtone. If sufficient care is not taken, the wines’ richness can turn to flabbiness, especially owing to the naturally low acidity. Particularly good specimens are age-worthy (including some oak-barrel aging), sometimes wanting as much as a decade to peak; at that peak, they can become honeyed and nutty, and such wines are prized.

Factoid: Marsanne is slowly but surely edging out Roussanne in Rhône whites owing to Roussanne being harder to grow well.

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Some Descriptions of Marsanne Wines

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Some Marsannes to Try

(About this list.)

Monovarietal Marsanne is not yet a staple on retailers’ shelves, so not only is the list below quite short, but those wines on it are not as widely available as we prefer in our list items. But it is what it is…


Tahbilk Marsanne
(Don’t confuse this with their upscale “Museum” or “1927 Vines” releases.
 In the U.S., this wine is rather hard to find nowadays, at least at reasonable prices.)

• This wine’s Wine Searcher “Reviews” page.
• This wine’s CellarTracker review pages.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by Wine Searcher.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by 1000 Corks.



Qupé Marsanne
(Santa Ynez Valley, California. Note that this is a blend, typically 80% to 85% Marsanne & 15% to 20% Roussanne.)

• This wine’s Wine Searcher “Reviews” page.
• This wine’s CellarTracker review pages.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by Wine Searcher.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by 1000 Corks.

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For a Splurge

Our nomination is the Alain Voge “Fleur de Crussol” Saint-Péray which retails for about $48 to $70.

• This wine’s Wine Searcher “Reviews” page.
• This wine’s CellarTracker pages.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by Wine Searcher.
• Retail offers of this wine listed by 1000 Corks.

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This page was last modified on Saturday, 30 October 2021, at 11:26 pm Pacific Time.