Wines made from Roussanne grapes of British Columbia
Discover the best wines made with Roussanne as a single variety or as a blend of British Columbia.
Roussane is a white grape variety, planted on an area of more than 700 ha. Originally from Montélimar, it is also found in Savoie, Languedoc and Roussillon, and grows very well in calcareous, poor, stony soil. It prefers to be pruned short. Roussane is also called fromenteau, barbin or bergeron. The young leaves are bubbled with fine down. When adult, they become thicker. It flowers in June and matures in mid-September. The grapes are cylindrical in shape, the berries are small and turn red when ripe, and the wine produced from pure Roussane is of extraordinary quality. It has a delicate aroma reminiscent of coffee, honeysuckle, iris and peony. The taste of this wine improves with age. It is part of the blend of the appellations Vin-de-Savoie, Côtes-du-Vallée du Rhône or Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
British Columbia is Canada's westernmost province, located on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The diversity of landscapes here – from rainy islands to desert-like valley floors – means that a wide variety of Grapes are planted here. They include Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling, as well as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. While volumes are lower than those of the province of Ontario, British Columbia is home to a rapidly growing wine industry.
I’d like to say we took advantage of the lockdown and its related commotion to do a stock-take, explore new avenues, turn over intriguing stones, widen and deepen our drinking, taking careful notes as we went. Sadly, no. I won’t say we got stuck in a rut, but we did tend to stick with comfort wines – and “comfort”, in our case, means familiar. Regular readers of this quarterly column can probably guess the labels on the resulting empties. We have a wider range of comfort foods, I’m afraid, than ...
Martin Crozier-Cook is wine manager at Jeroboams food and wine store in Holland Park, west London. Jeroboams was voted Outstanding Retailer of the Year in the 2022 Decanter Retailer Awards Christmas time is when things get crazy – we all know this from our own experience of shopping in December. It brings out all sorts of behaviour in people. I help manage the Jeroboams store in leafy Holland Park, and I can tell you that a smile and a good sense of humour are absolutely necessary in making it t ...
Find Matt Walls’ 22 top-value northern Rhône whites below, and look out for his top 52 northern Rhône reds under £30 which will be published on 11th October. The northern Rhône produces just 5% of the total volume made in the broader Rhône Valley growing area. As demand for these wines increases, it’s not surprising to see prices ticking up. But it’s still possible to find some excellent wines retailing under £30 a bottle in the UK. Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for 22 great val ...