Railsback Fréres "Cuvée Spéciale" Clairette Blanche, California 2021

FROM FRANCE & WESTERN:

THE WINE: Along with experimental plantings of Graciano, Picpoul Blanc, Teroldego, Mencia, and Xarello at the Nolan Ranch, they have a mere 1.84 acres of Clairette Blanche in the northwest hills of their property. Our love of the waxy, saline whites of Cassis, Bandol, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape led us to work with Clairette Blanche, the plant material of which was sourced from the legendary Perrin family of Château de Beaucastel. Victoria and I named our baby daughter, Simone, so consequently, we’ve found ourselves regularly opening bottles of the Palette Blanc from Château Simone, which is of course made predominantly from Clairette Blanche.

Long considered one of the Great Whites of Southern France, it’s a joy to drink this kind of textured white at the table with all sorts of cuisine Provençal. Our new world version of this unsung white cépage offers another view, and we’re super excited with the results of the 2021 harvest.

THE PRODUCER: Railsback Frères began as a rosé project in 2014 by brothers Lyle and Eric Railsback, who call their rosé “Les Rascasses” (scorpion fish in French) as an homage to Lulu Peyraud. Lulu was the proprietress of Domaine Tempier in Bandol, maker of their favorite rosé in Provence. Lyle did National Sales for French importer Kermit Lynch for twelve years before leaving to focus on the Santa Ynez project. His brother Eric started Lieu Dit wines in Santa Barbara, inspired by wines of the Loire valley, and owns Verve Wine in NYC, Chicago and San Francisco.