Domaine Gassier Lou Coucardie Blanc 2013
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Robert
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Wine &
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Blend: 45% Viognier, 30% Roussanne and 25% Grenache Blanc
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A wine I tasted from barrel last year, the 2013 Costieres de Nimes Lou Coucardie Blanc is a sensational blend of 45% Viognier, 30% Roussanne and 25% Grenache Blanc that was raised in new and once-used 500-liter French oak barrels. Big, ripe and layered, with lots of honeyed apricot, ripe peach and butter citrus all soaring from the glass, it's full-bodied, balanced and unctuously textured, yet never seems heavy or cumbersome in the least. It deserves a classy meal (anything with a cream sauce would be terrific) and should evolve nicely for 2-3 years (although there's no need to delay gratification).
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Wine & Spirits
This tastes like the sun, viognier's cheerful floral notes balanced by the nougat-y, broad notes of roussanne and grenache. Citrusy acidity keeps it buoyant, breezing along a stony base.
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Robert
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Domaine Gassier is the result of a shared passion between Tina and Michel Gassier. Located at the tail-end of the Rhône Valley, their vineyards face the marshes of Camargue and the Mediterranean Sea. They have a Rhône Terroir under maritime influence, situated in the southernmost Rhône appellation: Costières de Nîmes. Gassier vineyards have been organic certified since 2023, the first French Vineyard Regenerative Certified, by A Greener World.
They believe in minimal intervention to enhance freshness, balance, and minerality.
As of 2022, Isabel Gassier, the youngest and 5th generation of their family, has joined the Domaine. With great energy and humility, Isabel is leading the transition to regenerative farming. She embodies the next generation, constantly striving for positive change and innovation.
Full-bodied and flavorful, white Rhône blends originate from France’s Rhône Valley. Today these blends are also becoming popular in other regions. Typically some combination of Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier form the basis of a white Rhône blend with varying degrees of flexibility depending on the exact appellation. Somm Secret—In the Northern Rhône, blends of Marsanne and Roussanne are common but the south retains more variety. Marsanne, Roussanne as well as Bourboulenc, Clairette, Picpoul and Ugni Blanc are typical.
Gently rolling hills covered by large, round stones on south-facing slopes, Costieres de Nimes is a substantial IGP zone that was formerly considered part of the Languedoc. Today it is included as a section of the southern Rhone; its climate, topography and wines put it more in line with that appellation. Grenache is its most important red variety, along with Mourvedre, Syrah and Carignan. Half of the production here is rosé.