“…the rich fruit and mineral play very well together…”

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We’ve been enthusiastic fans of Domaine Sainte-Anne’s various Côtes du Rhône Rouge bottlings for several years now, but they also make a delicious, very reasonably priced white. Located in Saint-Gervais, and owned and operated by brothers Jean and Alain Steinmaier, Domaine Sainte-Anne doesn’t even have a website, with its only online presence being one page on a Danish site. The wine label is also rather plain looking (I didn’t say boring), so it seems that the Steinmaiers are primarily concerned with the quality of the wines they bottle, which, in our experience, has been very fine indeed.

2018 Domaine Sainte-Anne Côtes du Rhône Blanc, 14.5% alc., $12.99: Clean and pretty on the eye, showing lightly golden in color. The pleasant nose only hints at the bright splash of fruit that hits the palate with zippy mineral-laced intensity, very much in the white peach and yellow apple spectrum. As it opens in the glass, the rich fruit and mineral play very well together, with more-than-medium bodied weight, as you might expect from a Roussanne, Marsanne and Viognier blend. This really benefits from some air, so while you could decant it, “swirlatude” usually does the trick for me. Find this wine

I like this wine so much, I’ve gone back to the West Bloomfield Plum Market location three or four times already for more. Southern Rhône whites are seriously underrated, and seriously overlooked. Time to get a case, methinks. It’s a steal at this price and a good buy anywhere else if you can find it for $15 or less. It’ll probably get even better over the next year or two.
Imported by AHD Vintners, Warren, MI 

Reporting from Day-twah,
Bastardo

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