Maxime Crotet is a small independent producer whose work sits at the intersection of traditional southern French varieties and a natural, minimal-intervention approach to vinification. Producing a white wine from Grenache Blanc and Bourboulenc, two of the Rhône Valley’s most ancient indigenous white varieties, Crotet works in a register that is quite distinct from the dominant commercial styles of the region. Bourboulenc is a particularly rare variety in the contemporary French wine landscape, historically grown in the southern Rhône and Languedoc where its naturally high acidity and late-ripening character made it a valued component in white Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Bandol blends, though it is seldom seen as a primary variety in any appellation.

The 2022 vintage across the southern Rhône and Languedoc was characterised by exceptional heat and very low rainfall, producing white wines of great concentration and phenolic maturity. For producers working with naturally high-acid varieties like Bourboulenc, the challenge in 2022 was to harvest at a moment that balanced phenolic ripeness with the freshness and acidity that these varieties can provide even in warm conditions. The Grenache component in the blend provides aromatic generosity and textural weight, while the Bourboulenc contributes its characteristic mineral salinity and acid structure. The wine is produced in the style of a serious, cellar-worthy white rather than an early-drinking commercial proposition.

Wines of this profile, produced from indigenous southern French varieties by artisan producers working outside the established appellation hierarchy, occupy an increasingly important position in the French wine landscape for collectors who follow the natural and artisan wine movement with serious attention. Maxime Crotet’s Grenache Bourboulenc is a wine for the genuinely curious: one that offers the pleasures of an unusual indigenous variety combination, serious winemaking and a strong regional identity in a format that has not attracted the attention of the mainstream critical apparatus.

Pale gold with an aromatic nose of white peach, fennel fronds, dried herbs, orange blossom and a mineral salinity that speaks to the Bourboulenc variety’s distinctive character. Medium-bodied on the palate with excellent natural acidity, good texture and a long, saline, herb-inflected finish. Drink now through 2028.