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Biodynamic. 30% Clairette, 30% Roussanne, 30% Marsanne and 10% Grenache Blanc. This wine achieved cult status in France when Olivier Poussier (Sommelier du Monde 2000 and La Revue du Vin de France’s Rhône specialist) compared its quality to a white Hermitage. Haut Coustias is selected from the estate’s oldest, lowest-yielding white vines, which mostly face east in the chalkiest, coolest part of Oratoire’s La Montagne terroirs (the name given to the steepest area of Cairanne). The average age of the vines is 75 years, and these venerable plants produce low yields of 20 hl/ha. Each variety is harvested and vinified separately in concrete egg or old foudre before blending.
We’ve often said that we know of very few Rhône whites that can match the depth, complexity and sheer presence on offer here. Seductive and textured, there’s a brew of ripe pear, garrigue and anise on the nose, joined by fleshy peach skin on the palate. The wine’s shapely richness is deftly controlled by deep-rooted energy (no malolactic conversion this year) and mouth-watering phenolics. Despite the wine’s power, its classy subtlety, balance and length of flavour set it apart. If a hot white Burgundy grower made wine this far south, it might look like this... (wax cap and all).