Marsanne

Marsanne is a white wine grape of France's Northern Rhone, the heavyweight partner in the great whites of Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage and Saint-Joseph, where it is most often blended with the more delicate Roussanne. It gives a full-bodied, deeply coloured, low-acid wine with a distinctive waxy, almost oily texture and aromas of almond, quince, pear, honeysuckle and white pepper. Young examples can seem broad and quiet, but the best bottles age superbly, taking on a honeyed, nutty richness over a decade or more. Beyond the Rhone it has found second homes in Australia — where Victoria holds some of the oldest Marsanne vines on earth — as well as California, Switzerland and Spain. It is the textbook rich white: weighty, savoury and made for butter, cream and shellfish rather than crisp aperitif sipping.