Gilles Robin Crozes-Hermitage Les Marelles Blanc 2024

Certified OrganicVariety: 60 % Roussanne, 40 % MarsanneCountry Region: France, Northern Rhne ValleyAppellation:Crozes-Hermitage

60% Roussanne and 40% Marsanne from 1 ha of vines aged from 10 years up to 40 years old from the lieu-dits of Monico and Terres Rouges close to the winery in Les Chassis. Hand harvested and fermented for 20 days in stainless steeel at low temperature to retain maximum freshness and aromatics. Marsanne was aged for 6 months in barriques and Roussanne aged in stainless steel before blending both varieties and ageing for a few more months on fine lees before bottling. Just 4000 bottles produced this wine sows lovely bright clear peachy orchard fruit with a spine of bright acid bringing shape and length making this extremely attractive to enjoy now and for the next few years. A very clear winner.

‘Using 60% Roussanne and 40% Marsanne from older vines averaging 60 years, the 2024 Crozes-Hermitage Blanc Les Marelles comes forward nicely, opening with pronounced lemon flesh, ripe pear, signs of passion fruit and a splash of verbena tea. Medium-bodied and refined, the 2024 checks out with peachy pulses on the long finish.’ 90 points, Nicholas Greinacher, Vinous, January 2026.

‘Yellow robe; the nose leads on hazelnut, a backdrop of lime juice, has a smoky tone. The palate comes with cool fruiting, citrus fruits, droplets of detail, is elegant, easy to drink on a kind mineral clarity, ends quietly, has precision, can serve for the aperitif. It was bottled in October after more than a year because the sugars were slow to finish, Gilles Robin.’ John Livingstone-Learmonth, The Cradle Of The Rhne, February 2026.

The Robin family have grown grapes in Crozes-Hermitage for generations, but until 1995 they were always sold to the local cooperative in Tain l’Hermitage. Today, Gilles estate bottles his entire production and consistently produces some of the very best wines of this appellation. Gilles has just 15 hectares, however most of those vineyards are fully mature at more than 40 years old.

The estate has several plots of land in the favoured Les Chassis district just south of the Hermitage hill. The soils in this area consist of large amounts of smooth pudding stones galets and red clay from the route the Rhne river once flowed. These richer clay based soils give a wine that is typically rounder and more generous than from some other areas of the appellation.

Owing to the large amount of mature old vines at this estate most of the wine produced is of the premium Alberic Bouvet cuvee. This cuvee is produced from vines averaging 40 years age. Picking is done by hand and yields are kept low at around 38 hl/ha. In the ripest years a small percentage of stems are allowed in the ferment and the wine is aged in barriques (and increasingly in larger 450 litre barrels) for about 15 months with about 15% new barrels used each year.