La Girouette Sauvignon Blanc 2017

When you're choosing wine, the options can seem baffling. We have seen grown men weeping, rocking on the floor at their local corner shop for a beacon, something - anything - to guide them through the bewildering array of wines that the shop keep know nothing about. At Oddbins we try to make sure that never happens.

One way we do this is to say 'if you like X wine, you may like this one too'. So! If you like Loire Sauvignon Blanc, you are going to love La Girouette. It delivers the tang-tastic citrus fruit of Loire Sauvignons with a little more fruit vibrancy, from the fulsome Languedoc sun.

E.I. Wines is a range of classic French varietals from the sunny Pays d'Oc region, produced by the multi-award winning cooperative Foncalieu, pioneers of agronomic research and terroir expression. Les Vignobles Foncalieu is heir to the original building of the ‘Vignerons Libres de Maraussan’, the first cooperative winery in France, founded in 1901. It was opened by the great statesman Jean Jaurès, who held a stake in the business himself. This original building remains a symbol of the cooperative winemaking movement to this day and its façade prominently displays their founding motto ‘all for one and one for all’ (we’re not sure if they’re aware that someone got there before them on that one).

They have 5,000 hectares of vines that they manage according to the aromatic styles required for each range. The growers’ intimate knowledge of the terroir is enhanced by a team of international winemakers. They support sustainable viticulture and respect our most important ingredients: the soil, the vine and the grape. We guarantee you top quality from the vineyard to the bottle.

Native to the Loire Valley, head winemaker and ambassador at Foncalieu, Isabelle Pangault, got involved with the industry through barrel-making. The daughter of an oak sawyer, she was initially interested in the wood industry and studied forestry management, but eventually found her true passion lay in winemaking during a tasting with her father, which demonstrated the impact of French oak from different forests on the ageing process. Inspired to study at the Paris and Montpellier Universities of Agronomy, she went on to explore wine production in different international regions, including the prestigious Grands Crus classifications of Bordeaux with Baron Philippe de Rothschild; the Sula Vineyards, pioneers of the ‘Indian wine revolution’; the small yet renowned growers of the northern Rhône valley; in a cooperative in the southern Rhône valley; and as Vineyard Manager of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape producer, Ogier. Isabelle’s studies in Montpellier had led her to discover the richness of Languedoc vineyards and, convinced of the region’s potential, she went on to work for the Jeanjean Vineyards as a Technical Marketing Manager.

The grapes are protected against oxidation from the vine to the bottling. Mechanical harvest took place, followed by four hours of skin maceration followed by a pneumatic pressing in an inert atmosphere. Fermentation then took place under controlled temperature (14C) and the must was then racked.

Refreshing and zesty lime leaf notes leading to a crisp, balanced finish. It makes for an ideal accompaniment to lightly grilled fish.