In our (Sierra Foothills) area, and across most of California, Roussanne and Marsanne are blended together. In fact the wineries I am going to list, almost always are blending the two varietals. However you can find Roussanne alone, like from Bill Easton, who states that the Roussanne he grows in Placer County, California is some of the hardest grapes for his team to harvest uniformly, and the grape is difficult to grow in general. He also states this is some of the most complex and age worthy (white) wine available at his estate. These comments were taken from his Roussanne winemaker notes on the Terre Rouge website.
Roussanne is medium (to low) acid, with quite a few citrus notes, and many other intriguing notes as well. Intriguing might include some tangerine or tropical hints if the wine was picked younger. Generally, Roussanne is made into a larger, more oak infused wine here in the USA. Marsanne is complex perhaps waxy or oily on the palate, that full mouth feel, and rich with flavors of beeswax/honey, pineapple, pear and melon, some peach and perhaps smoke. The almond notes turn to caramel with age. It is a light in sugar, which yields less alcohol in the bottle, making Marsanne a great blending grape.
Below is how the clusters look, I pulled these images from Tablas Creek so they are American grown grapes. The cluster photos that I saw posted that were grown in France had slightly darker (reddish) hues for the Marsanne berries.
Why has Marsanne become increasingly popular in France? This stems partly from comments made by Bill Easton in his tasting notes about his Roussanne, it may be a difficult grape to work with (for some) during cultivation. I saw this posted several times, not just by Terre Rouge, but have heard other comments saying it is not too difficult in some areas. The varietal can suffer from oidium (a fungus), or wind damage and other problems, and once harvested the grape tends to oxidize quickly.
Roussanne
Marsanne
So where is the Marsanne? Well I found some for you. I got help from Chuck Mansfield of Goldbud Farms, a top vineyard manager here in El Dorado County. Two of his vineyards are producing Marsanne, one is Camino Alto, the other, one of my favorites, a vineyard called Fenaughty. The only winery producing just a Marsanne is Le Casque Wines out of Loomis, California. This is the closest pure Marsanne to my house, and I made quick time getting there. Yes you can definitely go to Tablas Creek down in Paso Robles and get Marsanne varietal bottles as well, but it is harder up here in Northern California.
Marsanne simply isn’t planted very broadly, a wine report of 2019 shows about 100-200 acres exist in all of California. That’s not a lot of wine. That compares to hundreds more acres in Australia, and thousands of acres in France, where it is most loved.
It was stated in some research I did that both Roussanne and Marsanne really took off first down around Santa Barbara County, from Rhone lifetime achievement award winner Bob Lindquist. Bob has a never ending love for Marsanne, and if you live down there give them a visit. The Rhone focused areas of the southern part of California, probably have more than we do up here in the northern regions, still today, thanks to Bob’s influence. It can take decades for a wine varietal to take hold, and certainly a champion winemaker and winery is needed. In 2010, Tablas Creek posted a blog about the improving Marsanne and how they were going to go bigger with it, and they delivered since that post, so things are improving for both Roussanne and Marsanne.
So my advice is try these wineries, for Northern California Roussanne with Marsanne.
– Donkey and Goat (Fenaughty Vineyard Marsanne + Roussanne)
– Le Casque Wines (Camino Alto Vineyard Marsanne)
– David Girard Winery (blended estate Roussanne and Marsanne)
– Skinner Winery (blended estate Roussanne and Marsanne)
–Starfield Vineyards (Estate Marsanne)
But what about all that Marsanne in France? This blog got me on a kick to just try Marsanne from France since there are some incredible ones from there.
An exquisite choice is M. Chapoutier Les Granits Blanc (100% St Joseph Marsanne). I wanted to try some of the very best. Marsanne is most popular in Northern Rhone, and the esteemed St. Joseph AVA and this winemaker are a top duo. Anything higher end from Chapoutier is going to be full of intensity, balance and complex (aromas and flavanoids) for your palate. For certain, I can recommend this first class winery from the Rhone area of France. I tasted there and it was the wine highlight of my trip to southern France in 2022
An alternate Marsanne from Chapoutier that is perhaps more easily found is Chante Alouette, and it is also a great choice for amazing French Marsanne, it is less fruity than the Les Granits Blanc, and highly complex.