Birichino Melon de Bourgogne Rodnick Vineyard Chalone 2023

Aromas of white flowers, fresh pear and zippy citrus notes carry over on to the palate, complemented by saline and mineral notes and bright acidity. Perfect oyster pairing wine! (11.5% ABV) - D&M TASTING NOTES

PRODUCER NOTES:

VARIETAL: “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. 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.”

VINEYARD: “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%. 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.”

PRODUCTION: "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 in stainless steel barrels before bottling in the Spring of 2025."