2023 Clos Sainte Magdeleine, Cassis AOC Blanc, Provence, France.
One of my favorite Summer wines and one f my favorite white wines, the Cassis Blanc by Clos Sainte Magdeleine in Provence’s coastal area on the Mediterranean Sea is a mineral fresh dry wine and made for warm weather and sea food. This light yellow/gold hued 2023 is crisp with subtle roundness of texture shows off an array of tangerine led citrus, white peach, apple and fleshy melon fruits, along with bitter almond, saline, wet stone, verbena and delicate florals, all in a medium bodied frame. The all organic Clos Sainte Magdeleine Cassis Blanc is all de-stemmed and gravity pressed and then the juice is fermented and aged in 100% temperature-controlled tanks with some lees contact and with most vintages seeing full malos in the Marsanne only. The regular Cassis Blanc, a blend of 40% Marsanne, 30% Ugni blanc, 25% Clairette, and 5% Bourboulenc is, as noted before, aged on the lees, in the stainless steel for between 7 to 9 months before bottling and release. Everything is done to allow the terroir to shine through and make a wine that goes beautifully with the local cuisine, which luckily mirrors the local food foods I get here on California’s Central Coast. There’s a lot to love here, and I highly recommend this Cassis Blanc with steamed clams and mussels, though it can go nicely with cheese or poultry dishes.
France’s historic and ancient Mediterranean fishing village Cassis in Provence is well known for its natural beauty, but maybe lesser known is that it is home to one of the world’s most iconic white wines and Clos Sainte Magdeleine makes one of the best, as seen here. The Clos Saint Magdeleine estate, as I’ve mentioned in my prior reviews, now run by Fancois Sack was originally founded by Jules Savon, who won the Gold Medal for the domaine at the World’s Fair in 1900 and put this estate on the map and the Sack family who have been in charge for four generations continue to make awesome wines in this picturesque village on the Mediterranean sea, not far from both Bandol and Marseille, where Cassis is a favorite at the best bistros and cafes. The Cassis village wines (AOC) which allows only White and Rosé is an ancient fishing village, and as Kermit Lynch notes, Cassis has seen its fair share of visitors over the millennia. Greek colonists from Phocaea first arrived in the sixth century B.C., and with them came the timeless Ugni Blanc grape and viticultural savvy. The Romans later made their way here, as well as their Barbarian successors, followed by the medieval Counts of Les Baux, all the way to tourists of the modern era looking to escape the cold, dark cities. This 2023 Clos Sainte Magdeleine Cassis is again a mood changer and a brilliant sunny wine that just makes me smile.
($45 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive