Le Grand Blanc Domain Milan 2014 Magnum

Wines always last and mature better in Magnum and this is the case with Le Grand Blanc from Domaine Milan. It is an outstanding white wine of richness and personality, made totally naturally, the wine sings of purity and is impossible to put down. When Henri Milan makes wine, he really does just let nature take its course. The man is slow, methodical and very, very relaxed, his wines are precise and expressive, quite a contrast. His terroir is fantastic, Grand Blanc is a blend of Grenache Blanc, Rolle, Roussane, Chardonnay and Muscat Petit Grains grown on clay soils with limestone rocks over a blue marl subsoil. I went to the estate to help with the 2013 vintage and we tasted the Grand Blanc with a sommelier from Pierre-Gagnaire, a 3 Michelin Star rstaurant in Paris, he loved it and his description was very simple, oh ‘c’est expressif ca! ‘ This is a wine for drinking in my view any time, any place, with any food, but it is quite full and rich so for those used to lighter whites, it would be for richer fish dishes, white meat and provencal style foods, it is simply delicious wine. It is a white wine which ages fabulously well, in fact, we have one bottle of 2007 just waiting for the right moment. In Magnum, Grand Blanc will go for decades so this might be a bottle to keep and savour in a few years when fully ripe!

Henri Milan has always done thing his way, and broke away from the Baux de Provence AOC so as to have the freedom to produce the wines he wanted.

The Domaine was started by Henri's father Robert in 1956, but it wasn't until Henri took over in the mid-80s that he converted to organic production. Influenced by Claude Courtois and Claude Bourguignon, Henri began to vinify the different sections of his vineyard separately and moved further towards natural production. He now grows a number of grape varieties including Grenache, Syrah, Grenache Blanc, Rolle, Roussanne and Chardonnay. The only chemical treatment used during the entire process of growth and vinification is a small amount of sulphur dioxide, which is added, on some rare occasions, during bottling. Fermentation always takes place naturally, with the grapes blended at the beginning of the process, rather than at the end. His wines have a wonderful purity and expression of terroir.