On the Short List for the Greatest French Whites Outside of Burgundy - Les Christine

 2020 Gilles Berlioz (Domaine de Partage) Chignin-Bergeron "Les Christine"

- The Best Wine in Savoie - Unlike Any Wine in the World

 - Your White Wine Education is Incomplete Until You've Had This

 - $99.99 for a Wine This Good Is a Remarkable Value

 - Aromas: Crazy Complex

 - Psychotically Floral like an LSD Trip

 - Like Elite Condrieu

 - Spice Notes

 - Epic Aromatic Fruit Complexity

 - This Extra Dimension to the Aromatics I Can't Explain

 - Utterly Ridiculous

 - Palate: Elderberry, Pineapple, Lychee, 

 - Brioche, Smokiness and even Some Fenugreek

 - Utterly Beguilingly Fresh 

 - Gorgeous Crystalline Minerals

 - Dazzling Purity, Concentration and Complexity

 - Utterly Crazy - A Wow Wine

 - This Would be a Unicorn Wine ... if The Hipster Somms Could Get It

I did a podcast recently and brought the 2020 Berlioz Les Christine Chignin-Bergeron and was blown away by it. It showed very young and promising but man - this is a wine of utter genius and one of the best white wines we've ever sold. I asked Gilles if he had any more and he did! It's not a lot but I want everyone who wants one to at least try a bottle. 

Benchmark Great French Wines Not from Burgundy

This is my 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, Boudignon and the Cotats

 - Provence - Trevallon, Chateau Simone 

 - Rhone - Chateau Grillet, JL Chave Hermitage Blanc, Sorrel Hermitage Blanc "Les Roucoules" 

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. The Berlioz Les Christine is on this list. 

The Wine

Now I am thrilled to offer the top white wine in the Savoie and one of the greatest wines in all of France. Period. The 2020 Domaine de la Partage (Gilles Berlioz) Chignin-Bergeron "Les Christine" for $99.99 a bottle on a 3-pack.

It is 100% Roussanne that is aged in a fiberglass 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.

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 $165+) 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 smoky complexity and you have aromas that are just ever changing. There is an awesome fruit complexity to the aromas that I've never encountered in any other wine. 

The palate delivers all that the freakishly awesome Roussanne can. Elderberry, pineapple, brioche, lychee, more smokiness and even some fenugreek that Christine 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 robin. 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 2020 has that juiciness down which is even more remarkable considering how arid 2020 was. This is from a very special plot of 25 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. This is a wow wine and will blow anyone away. Very Limited.

2020 Gilles Berlioz Les Christine Chignin Bergeron - $101.99 ($299.97 3-pack) (VERY LIMITED)