Birichino - Melon De Bourgogne Rodnick Farm Chalone 2023
Price: $26.99
| Producer | Birichino |
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| Country | USA |
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| Region | Santa Ynez Valley |
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| Varietal | Chenin Blanc |
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| Vintage | 2023 |
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| Sku | 38725 |
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Birichino Description
You can be forgiven for not recognizing the name of this variety, which rarely appears on the label of the wine it comprises. Melon de Bourgogne is the sole variety permitted in Muscadet around the French city of Nantes, where the Loire River empties into the cold North Atlantic.
At first glance, the profoundly warm and mountainous Chalone appellation has precious little in common with icy, sea-level Muscadet. Dig a little deeper, down, say to their respective bedrocks, and the soils which overlay them, and you will find vaguely similar intrusive granitic soils, exceptional for producing [if nighttime temperatures are cool enough] grandly zippy yet texturous wines at very modest levels of alcohol, in this case 11.5%. And if one does not stay sufficiently hydrated in this high desert chaparral, the majestic spires of Pinnacles National Park in the distance do resemble the ramparts of the Château des Ducs de Bretagne in Nantes, if one squints really hard...
This block was planted by Dick Graff in 1985, who used the name for the variety of his Chalone predecessor William Silvear - Pinot Blanc. Farmed organically for decades, Rodnick Farm was finally CCOF certified in 2023.
As we’re inveterate champions of scorned grape varieties, and having greatly admired wines produced in the past couple decades by a small group of committed vignerons in its native Loire Atlantique, we jumped at the chance to work with this exceptionally fresh, saline, and savory white variety on granite and mesozoic limestone soils. We elected to move toward the long elevage model practiced by this new generation of growers in Muscadet, and left the wine on its fine lees for 18 months before bottling in the Spring of 2025.
Oyster lovers of the World unite!
