2021 Northern Rhône

2021 is the greatest vintage for northern Rhône whites since 2014, and this is the best Rocules we can remember tasting. Unlike recent warmer vintages that have lent into the honeyed, nutty, tropical richness of Marsanne, this is fresh, precise, and has its old vine concentration on full display not in high alcohol, but in profound length.

Guillaume Sorrel's whites are as interesting and profound as his reds. This wine from Crozes is a little more forward and floral than the Hermitage wines, making it delicious in its youth. 2021 is an outstanding vintage for northern Rhône whites, and this is a prime example. It is apple-scented, fresh, bright, and with wonderful energy.

This is grown in kaolinite soils, a clay-limestone soil that only accounts for around 1% of Crozes-Hermitage. These white soils result in highly mineral wines. In 2021 Guillaume lost 40% of his crop to frost here, and unusually, applied full destemming to the fruit (the domaine is usually associated with whole bunch fermentation). The result is a fresh, crunchy, and vigorous Crozes, saline rather than spicy, and driven by a sappy minerality.