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Château d’Issan unveils its new white Rhône blend

24 September 2024 By Arabella Mileham

Bordeaux estate Château d’Issan has unveiled its new white wine blend that db reported on exclusively last month, saying it “was time to anticipate and innovate”.

Jardin d’Issan, the new white blend from the famed Margaux chateau, will be released in June 2025, with the inaugural harvest of a 1.7-hectare plot of Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne, and Rolle (Vermentino) starting last week (Thursday 19th September).

The plot sits in the centre of Château d’Issan‘s walled vineyard and was planted in 2021 following detailed soil analysis of some of the vineyards during the Covid pandemic. This revealed a small plot of predominantly clay topsoils and limestone subsoils, ideal for white wines, and because the site lies on the 45th parallel, the team conducted a blind tasting of
white wines produced on the 45th parallel, from Bordeaux, Côtes du Rhône, and Piedmont, both single-variety and blended wines. As a result, instead of planting the traditional Bordeaux varieties of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, the team decided to experiment with varieties found on this latitude in order to produce a “unique” and “exceptional” white wine.

“We are on the 45^th parallel and these grapes are growth on the 45^th parallel in Piedmont and Croze-Hermitage, so it was a bit experimental, but why not?” Emmanuel Cruse, co-owner of d’Issan and director-general of Vignobles Cruse-Lorenzetti told the drinks business last month.

“If, after ten vintages, we realise one variety makes a better wine, then we could readapt,” Cruse added.

The vines themselves were selected from leading nurseries in the Côtes du Rhône. However, Cruse told db that it would be labelled as a Vin de France, as the varieties are not approved under the Bordeaux AOC or Bordeaux Supérieure.

Vignobles Cruse-Lorenzetti includes the Margaux châteaux in its portfolio alongside Châteaux Pedesclaux, and Châteaux Lafon-Rochet in Pauillac and Lilian Ladouys in Saint-Estephe.