Wines made from Marsanne grapes of Vinos de Pago
Discover the best wines made with Marsanne as a single variety or as a blend of Vinos de Pago.
Marsanne is a white grape variety that originated in Montélimar in the Drôme, several centuries ago. Marsanne is also found in Cassis, Savoie, Languedoc-Roussillon and Saint-Péray in the Ardèche, where it produces remarkable sparkling wines. The warm, sunny climate of the Rhone Valley, Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence, as well as the dry, stony soil, are ideal conditions for its development. Its bunches are quite large and provide small, juicy berries that are sensitive to grey rot and strong winds. These two grape varieties complement each other perfectly: together they give light wines with little acidity, aromas of yellow fruit, white fruit and flowers with notes of honey and liquorice. This is for example what the appellations Saint-Péray, Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, Saint-Joseph, Côtes-du-Vallée du Rhône, Corbières, or Cassis express... which represent about 700 hectares.
Vinos de Pago, often abbreviated to VP, is a relatively New category of wine classification in Spain. It was introduced in 2003, to cover individual wineries whose wines fell outside the existing DO system (geographically or stylistically) but were nevertheless of consistently high quality. As of 2017, there were more than a dozen VPs, all of which are notable exceptions in regions not generally associated with high quality wines. More than half are in Castilla-La Mancha, and the rest in Navarra and Utiel-Requena.