Ask winemakers in the Southern Rhône to name the most exciting white grape in their region and you will hear a growing number of them say “Clairette.”
Long a blending grape throughout southern France, Clairette can truly shine when planted in the right terroir. There are some famous Clairette cuvées—which happen to be some of my favorite whites from the south: Isabel Ferrando’s Vieille Vignes Blanc made from 100-year-old vines in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Domaine du Bagnol in Cassis (based largely on Clairette), and Louis Barruol’s Château de St.-Cosme Le Poste Blanc in Gigondas.
For Clairette lovers (a small but growing club) the creation of Gigondas Blanc with the 2023 vintage is an exciting development. These white wines are required to contain a minimum of 70 percent Clairette, which means there is finally a region dedicated to elevating the grape to its rightful place among the great whites of the Rhône Valley.
When Gigondas was promoted to cru status in 1971, the classification was only applied to red wines and rosé. Consequently, most producers ripped out their white vines to plant more red. The few producers that kept producing whites within Gigondas’ borders were required to label them as humbler, more generic Côtes du Rhône.
Clairette thrives in Gigondas like nowhere else, says Louis Barruol of Château St.-Cosme. With the region’s high elevation, limestone soils and cool temperatures near the dramatic Dentelles de Montmirail mountains, the grape has found the ideal place to express itself. “Few regions in the south can achieve such balance, natural freshness, ripeness and minerality at low alcohol—this is a fact,” says Barruol.
Whites have a long history in the region—Barruol has found documents that show Château de St.-Cosme produced more whites than reds in the 1700s. When his father took the reins in 1957 there were more whites than reds in the cellar. “Gigondas is the home of Clairette like Bandol is the home of Mourvèdre. It could only be the backbone of our appellation.”
A leading light in Gigondas, Barruol is also co-president of the appellation’s growers association, with Pierre Amadieu, and they have been pushing for over a decade to get the French authorities to permit white wine production within the Gigondas cru.
Barruol makes two Clairette whites: Le Poste Blanc, from a terraced vineyard planted in 1964, and Hominis Fides Blanc, sourced from a 7-year-old plot. He matures them in old casks on fine lees, and they offer a lot of finessed concentration (especially Le Poste), saline depth and gunflint minerality behind pear and peach flavors. His 2021 and 2022 vintages are labeled Côtes-du-Rhône; the yet-to-be-released 2023 vintage will bear the Gigondas moniker.
The third generation at Pierre Amadieu is sitting on a rare gem—a large plot of Clairette their visionary grandfather planted in 1955. “Limestone and Clairette and Gigondas is a very particular combination,” says Jean-Marie Amadieu. Their Grand Romane Blanc 2023 is sourced from this old-vine site, and their Romane-Machotte Blanc 2023 is a blend of different terroirs—these are the first official Gigondas Blanc cuvées to hit U.S. shores. I tasted them in barrel with Amadieu last fall and just reviewed them upon their arrival in October. They are impressive, chiseled wines with rich textures. “Clairette seems to be the best messenger of the terroir of Dentelles de Montmirail,” says Amadieu.
The always-excellent Domaine La Bouïssière Côtes du Rhône Blanc will become a Gigondas Blanc with the 2023 vintage. Owner-winemaker Thierry Faravel has already been planting more Clairette. Later in 2025, Benjamin Gras of Domaine Santa Duc will release his inaugural Gigondas Blanc, part of an ambitious new project he has developed in the historic Clos des Hospices site. “I always had the desire to make a truly great white wine,” he told me. From Clairette in limestone soils and then aged 10 months on lees in old Burgundy barrels, the wine promises a lot of freshness and depth.
Whites account for just 2 percent of Gigondas plantings. But more than a dozen producers are now planting Clairette, and soon Barruol and Amadieu expect that white Gigondas will account for 15 percent of the wine made there. I’ll be patiently waiting to stock up on as much as I can get.
Senior editor Kristen Bieler has been with Wine Spectator since 2021.
