Chateau Simone Blanc 2023 (750ML)

Some parcels behind Château Simone's Palette Blanc are more than a hundred years old, and the vines average over 50, planted mostly on north-facing slopes of limestone scree in the hills just south of Aix-en-Provence. The Rougier family has owned the estate since 1830 and holds a near-monopoly on the Palette appellation. The 2023 is 80% Clairette, with 10% Grenache Blanc, 5% Bourboulenc, 3% Ugni Blanc and 2% Muscat Blanc, pressed in a vertical hydraulic press, fermented with native yeasts and aged 18 months in small oak casks, six of them on fine lees. Golden even in youth, it opens on pine resin, blossom and fruit with a light brush of oak, crisp at first and finishing long over a deep mineral core. It is built for long aging. It is at home beside red mullet with fennel, chicken with morels in cream, or a ripe Banon.