2018 Domaine de Bertier, Sauvignon Blanc & Viognier, Côtes de Thongue, Languedoc-Roussillon

Domaine de Montmarin

Domaine de Montmarin lies among the hills running down to the Mediterranean to the west of Cap d’Agde in Cotes du Thonge (Southern France) and covers around 350 hectares, of which just over 120 are planted with vines.

The owner, Philippe de Bertier, is a charming and unassuming individual who, with the help of his consultant œnologist and his maître de chai Bertrand Waris (from Champagne), makes exceptionally good and well presented varietal Vin du Pays wines. Recent investments in the bottling facility have seen the wines move to screw-cap whilst the launch of a range of dual varieties under the Domaine de Bertier label has further enhanced the range.

Sauvignon Blanc

An important white grape in Bordeaux and the Loire Valley that has now found fame in New Zealand and now Chile. It thrives on the gravelly soils of Bordeaux and is blended with Sémillon to produce fresh, dry, crisp  Bordeaux Blancs, as well as more prestigious Cru Classé White Graves.

It is also blended with Sémillon, though in lower proportions, to produce the great sweet wines of Sauternes. It performs well in the Loire Valley and particularly on the well-drained chalky soils found in Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, where it produces bone dry, highly aromatic, racy wines, with grassy and sometimes smoky, gunflint-like nuances.

In New Zealand, Cloudy Bay in the 1980s began producing stunning Sauvignon Blanc wines with extraordinarily intense nettly, gooseberry, and asparagus fruit, that set Marlborough firmly on the world wine map. Today many producers are rivalling Cloudy Bay in terms of quality and Sauvignon Blanc is now New Zealand`s trademark grape.

It is now grown very successfully in Chile producing wines that are almost halfway between the Loire and New Zealand in terms of fruit character. After several false starts, many South African producers are now producing very good quality, rounded fruit-driven Sauvignon Blancs.