2021 Domaine Cailhol Gautran Villa Lucia Blanc Minervois 750 ml

If you wanted to design a landscape and climate for the express purpose of extracting wild power and flavorful intensity from grapes, you’d end up with a piece of land that looks almost exactly like Minervois, in France’s Languedoc region.

Here are raw, cheek-reddening gusts of wind, schist-ridden soils, and scrubby foothills scented with garrigue that seem reminiscent of the more expensive vineyards of the Northern Rhône—matched to the dry heat and cold nights of Southern France, creating a perfect cradle for grapes brimming with health and energy.

What you won’t find in Minervois is the price inflation that’s afflicted other French wine regions. And while the area is known for absurdly good red wines, we’ll put the 2021 Cailhol Gautran Villa Lucia Blanc Minervois up against the best whites of the Rhône. It’s an under-the-radar region’s hidden stunner.

Olivia and Nicolas Gautran are ambitious—there’s no two ways about it. Even though their Villa Lucia is a stunning bargain by any standard, it’s also one of the more expensive wines in their region. That’s ruffled some feathers, sure, but it’s a testament to their obsessive pursuit of quality and the devoted following they’ve developed among France’s cavistes.

This wine, a blend of Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne, Vermentino (Rolle) and Terret shows all the richness and character you want in top Rhône whites. Medium-lemon in color with touches of gold throughout, it’s got rich, effusive aromas of Mandarin orange, acacia, beeswax, fresh ripe quince, fresh apricot, and white blossoms. Medium-to-full bodied on the palate, with well-balanced acidity backed by flavors of fresh white and yellow peaches, lemon zest, aniseed, and nectarine, it’s a gorgeous alternative to Rhône whites!