Roussanne Grape Spotlight: From French Roots to California Sunshine
- how a grape changed the Truchard family life trajectory
Today we are heading to the new world, which in the wine world generally means “non-European”. The focus? The Roussanne grape. Roussanne is a white grape which gives aromatic, medium to full bodied wines. It is produced either as a single varietal wine or blended with Viognier, Marsanne, Clairette, or Grenache Blanc.
It is also an allowed grape in the Chateauneuf-du-Pape white wine.
What? A white Châteauneuf-du-Pape??
Yup! It’s a thing!! An article for another time…
The great majority (85%) of Roussanne grapes are grown in France with some plantings in places like Italy, Australia, Canada, and the USA. Its origin has not been determined although it is widely believed it is native to the Rhône Valley as well as the Isère Valley in eastern France. It is also grown in the Savoie region of France where it is called Bergeron.
In California there was some confusion around the grape. DNA testing in 1998 confirmed some cuttings brought from the Rhône Valley in the 1980s were actually Viognier vines.
In the USA, Roussanne is grown in the western portion of Paso Robles sub-region where the Rhône Rangers deemed it wise to grow Rhône grapes due to the Pacific Ocean’s cooling influence. The same is true for the Los Carneros sub-region of Napa, with the cooling effects of San Pablo Bay to the west. Today’s featured wine is from Truchard Vineyards in the Los Carneros wine sub-region.
Truchard sounds French!
Indeed, Jean Marie Truchard emigrated to Texas in 1887 from the Lyon area of France, just North of the Rhône Valley. His brother Father Anthony Marie Truchard, a Catholic priest, moved with him. Together they built a winery on 500 acres of land in Southeast Texas. Sadly, during Prohibition the lands had to be converted to pasture.
But the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Or shall we say the grape doesn’t fall far from the vine! Heehee!
Gosh!
The family winemaking instinct was revived with Jean Marie’s grandson Tony who grew up in Texas. He married Jo Ann, became a medical doctor, and eventually joined the army. The Truchard’s life course changed in 1972 when his commanding officer reversed his decision to station them in South Korea.
The Truchards and their three children were getting ready to move to South Korea when, at 8½ months pregnant, Jo Ann broke her knee while grocery shopping in San Antonio.
How did she manage that?
Slipped on a grape.
Ironic!
Four days later, she gave birth donning a full leg cast. Afterwards, the family moved to Northern California where Tony became a base medical commander. Eventually they made a trip to Napa where Tony got inspired to buy some land to plant vines in Carneros.
Los Carneros is divided between both Sonoma and Napa wine regions.
That is unusual, isn’t it?
Very much so. I imagine it is the result of some negotiation as it straddles the border that separates the two regions.
At that time, Carneros was deemed too cool to properly ripen quality grapes. I mentioned San Pablo Bay above, which moderates the climate, but its proximity also results in salty ground water. Both the climate and the lack of freshwater forced the land to be used mainly for pasture.
This led Tony to hire soil conservationists and ultimately to make a meaningful contribution to the wine world. Firstly, Tony built a holding pond/reservoir using clay soils to gather rainwater. However, overhead sprinklers, the norm at that time, were not viable because of insufficient rainwater. Instead they introduced drip irrigation, a more water efficient method, as was used in Israel’s desert. Drip irrigation is now common practice throughout the wine world.
Good problem solving! But what about the problem of the climate being too cool?
Turns out the climate wasn’t a problem once the grape received sufficient water! Over the next 20 years, the Truchards' success led neighboring landowners to sell them their properties. This allowed Truchard Vineyards’ land base to grow gradually. Initially they sold their grapes to premier wineries, but in 1989 they started making their own wine.
While the main varieties planted in Los Carneros sub-region are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Merlot; Roussanne also does very well in this environment, as we see with this representative example and very good quality wine from Truchard.
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Truchard Roussanne 2023, Carneros, Napa, California
Style: Aromatic Medium Body White
Varieties: 100% Roussanne
This aromatic wine has flavors of yellow apple, just ripe pear, apricot, nectarine, and honeydew melon with a hint of mango and cantaloupe melon notes. It also shows complexity of herbal, cream, white cheese, honey, wet stone, and a suggestion of yogurt flavors. The wine’s acidity is moderately high and it has a persistent finish.
Best pairings: Lyonnaise Salad (greens with poached egg and bacon), Pear and Gorgonzola Salad, Sea Bass or halibut with a light herbal or citrus sauce, Pork tenderloin with rosemary or sage, Roast chicken with thyme or orange sauce, Pear and Brie crostini.
Serving Temperature: 8-10 degrees Celsius
Serving Tips: Avoid serving too cold - it mutes the complex flavors.
Price: ~$41 Cdn
I have compiled all my wine recommendations in one place. I will do my best to keep this up to date. I also include the link(s) to the article in which the wine was featured.
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SOURCES:
Harding, J. and Robinson, J. (2023) The oxford companion to wine. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Home (2023) Truchard Vineyards. Available at: https://truchardvineyards.com/?srsltid=AfmBOooLcuSN3rZlMLSfgJK7Horq-JsGQnzJOlD_dpToBUfZHaO7u6pc (Accessed: 12 November 2024).
MacNeil, K. (2022) The wine bible. New York, NY: Workman Publishing.
Napa Valley Vintners (no date) Los Carneros AVA of Napa Valley, Napa Valley Vintners. Available at: https://napavintners.com/napa_valley/los-carneros-ava/ (Accessed: 12 November 2024).
Roussanne (no date) Tablas Creek. Available at: https://tablascreek.com/story/vineyard_and_winemaking/grapes/roussanne (Accessed: 12 November 2024).
Roussanne - white wine grape variety of southern France (2024) Wine. Available at: https://www.wine-searcher.com/grape-424-roussanne?srsltid=AfmBOorf2fl2LVs5Q3k3jxcEUBo84E9d5kFyXoyQgSSC0umAsOn3vqAT (Accessed: 12 November 2024).
Sonoma County Vintners. Available at: https://sonomawine.com/ (Accessed: 16 September 2024).
Terroir (no date) Carneros Wine Alliance. Available at: https://www.carneros.com/appellation (Accessed: 12 November 2024).
Wine & Spirit Education Trust (2021) D3: Wines of the World - An accompaniment to the WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines. Version 1.2. London: Wine & Spirit Education Trust.
I adore their wines! Great post.
Never knew that about the mix up with Viognier! And that bottle you recommended sounds great - I had a really good blend that used Roussanne from Tablas Creek last time I was in Paso, but I don't think I've ever had a 100% Roussanne. Will definitely need to track one down. Cheers!