Domaine Monplezy, Emocion Blanc 2023

Get to know: Domaine Monplézy, Emoción Blanc

Marsanne and Roussanne at 25 hectolitres a hectare, six months in new French oak - the top white wine of the Languedoc's Pézenas hills.

Tasting Note

This greets you with a beguiling aromas of cedar wood and cardamom first, and then peach and linden flower come up behind. Pale, with a golden colour that signals the oak ageing. The palate is rich and full and fresh at once, the sort of texture that coats your mouth and then cleans it, and the length is the thing people remark on - it goes on well after you have swallowed. Nutty, honeyed weight from the Marsanne, oily stone fruit from the Roussanne. Recommended if you like rich and elegant Chardonnays from Burgundy.

Top food pairings:

• King oyster mushrooms roasted with thyme and garlic
• Turbot with brown butter
• Aged Comté

Kate Says

"For me, this is what a top Languedoc white can do. Showing the nutty, honeyed minerality of Marsanne and the oily stone fruit character of Roussanne, aged 6 months in oak to bring it together. It’s rich, complex and rewarding. This wine can age for another 5 to 10 years easy.

Twenty-five hectolitres a hectare is a tiny crop for a white - roughly half what a good Languedoc white usually carries - and the fruit comes in by hand at the end of August. That's the whole explanation for the weight in the glass. Put it in front of someone who only drinks white Burgundy and say nothing."

Producer Info

Domaine Monplézy sits about 4km from Pézenas, garrigue on every side, with views to the Canigou, the Espinouse, the Caroux and the sea. Jean Sutra de Germa founded the estate in 1920 on a property dating to 1734; the Gil family arrived from Spain in the 1940s and the two families joined, which is where the double-barrelled name comes from. Organic since 2000. Being free of chemical pesticides for over two decades has brought the insects back, and the birds with them.

How it's made:

• Hand-picked at the end of August, at 25 hectolitres per hectare
• Fermented with the lees broken up by hand
• Six months in new French oak barrels
• Miocene marl and stony gravel; organic, certified by ECOCERT

Good to know:

• Region: AOC Languedoc, France
• Grape: Marsanne, Roussanne
• Style: White, still, full-bodied, oaked
• Closure: Cork
• Vegan: Not supplied
• ABV: 14.5%
• Vintage: 2023

Why we love it:

Proof of what the region can do at the top end. A rich, complex Languedoc white wine with the structure to age eight years, and the kind of length you normally pay a great deal more for.