Villa Volubilia - Volubilia White 2024

A Meknès Chardonnay without oak, rounded out with Sauvignon and a touch of Vermentino.

In Roman times, Volubilis was already making wine. Volubilia Blanc is its distant heir, with a thoroughly modern build. Chardonnay leads the blend, joined by Sauvignon and a hint of Vermentino, grown on the clay-limestone soils of the Guerrouane appellation. The harvest spends twenty-four hours in a cold room, is pressed directly, then ferments at low temperature. The wine rests four months in stainless steel on its fine lees, with no oak, so the fruit stays front and centre. It is golden yellow with green glints. Fresh apple, peach and citrus lead on the nose and palate. There is real substance on the palate, held in check by clean, lively acidity, and the finish is long and crisp.

Villa Volubilia, also known as Domaine de la Zouina, covers 115 hectares, 85 of them under vine, at the foot of Mount Zehroun, 20 km from Meknès, in the heart of the Guerrouane appellation. Its name nods to Volubilis, the city founded by the Berbers and later taken over by Rome, where wine and olive oil were already being made. In 2002, two Bordelais, Gérard Gribelin and Philippe Gervoson, both Pessac-Léognan veterans, took over the estate after a golfing trip and a sudden passion for its clay-limestone soils. Christophe Gribelin runs it today. Farming is “raisonnée”, in a Mediterranean climate of dry summers swept by the chergui, the east wind off the Sahara, followed by stormy autumns and wet winters. Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Chardonnay, Viognier, Vermentino and Caladoc are all grown here.