La Ferme du Mont Cotes du Rhone Blanc "La Truffiere" 2021

yellow peaches, dried apricots, orange blossom honey, white mushrooms and, yes, truffles

Where the Lançon family have been producing wine for almost 300 years in the Rhône, La Ferme du Mont only started in 2000. In that short time owner Stéphane Vedeau has made a big impact, crafting award winning and highly rated wines from a collection of small holdings across the region. A former professional soccer player, Stéphane began making wine in 1989 in the Languedoc. Unique for the time he focused on terroir driven wines and soon was earning big accolades in the French wine market. Always a competitor he turned his attention north to the Rhone and began purchasing small vineyards he felt had exceptional potential. Today he crafts at least a dozen different wines and in our tasting the standout was this amazing Côtes du Rhône Blanc.

We are generally big fans of Côtes du Rhône Blanc, but this example is far more serious than most with almost Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc quality at a fraction of the price. The secret of this wine is that Stéphane picks the grapes at several different levels of ripeness to build even more dimension into the finished wine. In addition, the Viognier vines are planted next to a line of oak trees renowned for their truffle production. It is probably suggestive but my notes do show a touch of white truffle. 

Decant this wine for a half hour and let it warm a bit above refrigerator temperature. It then explodes with a mix of fresh cut yellow peaches, dried apricots, orange blossom honey, white mushrooms and, yes, truffles. On the nose it has superb richness and soft edges but then a nice dusting of minerality on the finish. Drink with roasted halibut over fennel with anchovy croutons or roast chicken finished with truffle oil.