My local wine shop, the Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan was having a special event of a wine tasting, featuring two female winemakers and I will discuss each of the women, their winery, and their wines in sequence.  I find the concept of women winemakers as just part of the natural process.  I automatically think of the Grande Dame of Champagne, the pioneering lady who overcame hurdles in her day and made her wine international is Veuve Clicquot (Widow Clicquot).  In my fifty years of wine enjoyment, I have discovered many women in the trade, so I guess it has become normal.

Anne Charlotte Melia Bachas likes to claim that she was born under a foudre (a large wine cask).  The Melia family acquired Chateau de la Font, du Loup (the fountain of the wolf) in 1942, is the name of a natural spring in the center of the estate, and legend held that wolves from Mount Ventoux would stop to drink from the spring.  Today Anne Charlotte the grand-daughter of the founder and her husband oversee the estate and the winemaking. The estate is within the commune of Courthezon and part of the legendary Chateauneuf-du-Pape, or the “the Pope’s new castle;” when Pope Clement V moved his papacy to Avignon in 1308.  In 1936 Chateauneuf-du-Pape was the first AOC in the Rhone, as well as one of the first in France.  A unique wine that can be made using up to thirteen grape varieties, though the main grape is Grenache, followed by Syrah, Mourvedre, and Cinsaut.

We started off with Chateau de la Font, du Loup Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 2019, which is a bit rarer, at least to me.  The estate is one of the highest points of the region.  The estate is basically on sand, but because of the natural spring, the vines stay hydrated naturally and some of the vines on the estate are at least a hundred-years old.  The wine is a blend of thirty-five percent Grenache Blanc, thirty-five percent Roussanne, twenty percent Clairette, and ten percent Bourboulenc.  Hand-harvested, the grapes are vinified separately and blended just before bottling.  Malolactic Fermentation is prevented.  Clairette and Bourboulenc are aged on lees for nine months in epoxy resin vats; while the Grenache Blanc and Roussanne spend time in once-used barrique seasoned by a single vintage at Chateau d’Yquem and in demi-muids (600 Liter) from Burgundy.  A very light-straw-yellow wine that offers notes of white fruit, toasted almonds, and flowers.  On the palate a fresh and delicate taste offering tones of subtle fruit, almonds, and butter, with fuller texture and a medium finish.  A very delicate and expressive wine with its own panache.