Saint-Joseph Blanc, “Pierre Blanche”

Pure Roussanne aged partly in terracotta jar and partly in a single three-year-old 228-liter barrel, this micro-cuvée from vines planted in 2014 offers intense minerality beneath its overlay of exotic almond-inflected apricot fruit, with a lip-smackingly pulpy texture and a vivid overall sense of purity. One feels the influence of the Châteaubourg vineyard’s limestone soils in the wine’s directness of line and mineral elegance.