One of the Best Non Burgundian Whites in France - Gilles Berlioz's Premium Cuvee, Les Christine

There has been a benchmark list of the Greatest White Wines of France that are not Burgundy. These are wines that are typically made by masters and from selected parcels that have fantastic terroir and are able to produce wines that are every bit as good as the top wines coming out of Burgundy. And these are always less expensive than the top burgs.

Loire - Roches Neuves, Vatan, Guiberteau, Collier, Joly and the Cotats

Provence - Trevallon, Chateau Simone Blanc

Rhone - Chateau Grillet, JL Chave Hermitage Blanc

Those who have tried these wines will tell you that when properly aged they are singular and remarkable drinking experiences that can compare with the great wines from their brethren in the more well known (and vastly more expensive) regions of Burgundy.

Well it is always exciting when there is a new kid on the block and Gilles Berlioz of the great estate Domaine de la Partage in Chignin has a new wine to add to this very short and very exclusive list. It is the 2015 Gilles Berlioz (Domaine de Partage) Chignin-Bergeron "Les Christine" for as little as $64.99 a bottle on a 3-pack. This is only the second vintage and this wine has stormed into the scene. It is 100% Roussanne that is aged in a concrete egg, except this egg is more horizontal than vertical. I've never seen an egg like it and as a result of the shape it makes the wine different than the other more vertical eggs.

Many of you have tasted the brilliant Savoie wines of Gilles Berlioz and realize my hype was justified. If the countless texts and emails from happy clients are any indication. Gilles' wines are some of the purest, elegant, juicy and complex wines in the portfolio.

This is the best wine I've tasted from Gilles. Easy. It is pricey for a Savoie wine (and through 3 tier it would cost $100) but think of this not as a Savoie wine but one of the world's great white wines, comparable to a great white Burgundy or a top Northern Rhone white. This is comparable to the great Beaucastel Roussanne Vieilles Vignes (which is twice the price) in my opinion yet with a much different mineral expression as it is more appealingly alpine. But it is right there qualitatively with that wine. I prefer it. Along with the exotic fruit profile of the Roussanne, and the texture, oh my god the texture of this wine is to die for, ridiculous aromatics, and this compelling alternate alpine reality minerality, you've got a really profound bottle of wine. The color is deep and golden but with a green glimmer. Even the color cannot escape the alpine qualities of Chignin. There is a lovely almost Champagne-like brioche quality to the expansive aromas as well. The aromas are crazy complex and reveal more and more with coaxing and extended aeration. Floral and spice notes complicate things even more. Add to this a smokey complexity and you have aromas that are just ever changing. The palate delivers all that the freakishly awesome Roussanne can. Elderberry, pineapple, brioche, lychee, more smokiness and even some fenugreek that Gilles communicated to me via my translator. It is honeyed but so fresh, juicy and mineral as well. There is stunning volume here. The wine really is distinctive and specific with its aromatic and flavor spectrum as well (fenugreek, etc). With all of this it is utterly beguilingly fresh with beautiful minerality. So pure. So precise. Truly one of the most special wines I've sold. I do now know how long it will age but I'd say 10-12 years. Love to see it in 5-6. That nose and that texture will only get better.

Also it has all the ingredients of a unicorn wine, or should I say pre unicorn wine as it has not yet gotten into the hipster somm hashtag round robbin.  It is made in minuscule quantities.  He is close friends with another unicorn wine producer, Ganevat. There is a juicy quality from the acidity because 2014 has that juiciness down. This is from a very special plot of 18 year old Roussanne vines that the "two Christines" his wife Christine and his worker at the Domaine, Christine Meitas, have selected as a special parcel right below the castle in town of the best grapes of Roussanne at the estate. They have picked well. They are pictured here with the egg that this very limited cuvee is aged in.

2015 Gilles Berlioz (Domaine de la Partage) Chignin-Bergeron 

"Les Christine" - $67.99 ($194.97 3-pack)