Etienne Pochon is the refined, slightly reserved owner in the eastern end of Crozes. He used to sell his grapes to one of the local co-operatives, but now makes his own wines from better-than-average fruit. Pochon oversees all elements of production, ensuring that the wine shows all the soft, fragrant plentiful fruit that has gone into it and this ripe and fruity wine shows he was right to go it alone.
Presentation
Presentation
Along with a handful of other growers, the rather reserved Etienne Pochon has been instrumental in improving the quality and the image of Crozes-Hermitage and is producing some of the region’s finest and most elegant wines.
Terroir
The soils, made up of quaternary gravel, are not very fertile and sloping. The protected from the prevailing northerly wind, the best exposed part of the hillside allows us to produce a wine of great class.
Average age of vines: 45 years
Average age of vines: 45 years
Winemaking
Hand-picked in the morning to keep the grapes fresh, grapes de-stemmed. Half fermented in new barrels, the other half in stainless steel tanks.
Ageing
Aged on fine lees, with stirring, for 4 months in new barrels.
Varietals
Marsanne : 60%
Roussanne : 40%
Roussanne : 40%
Specifications
Alcohol content : 14 % vol.
GM : No.
Contains sulphites. Does not contain egg or egg products. Does not contain milk or milk-based products.
Advice
Serving
12°C / 54°F
Ageing potential
5 to 10 years
Tasting
This blend of Marsanne and Roussanne comes across as something of a hybrid between Hermitage and Burgundy. It has grilled peach, citrus and smoke notes, ample weight and a long, hazelnut-tinged finish.
Food pairings
Reviews
"Etienne crafts very elegant and surprisingly long-lived Crozes (...). Etienne vinifies plot by plot from hillside sites, the best of which are separated for some aging in oak barriques. The white is a Marsanne/Roussanne blend full of sophisticated almond, dairy and stone fruit flavors (...). "
