Palette Grand Cru de Provence White Rhone Blend

Stunning and utterly singular. The nose is intensely mineral and almost impossible to categorize, with desiccated leaves, yellow fruit, green banana, plantain, wheat field, stones and crushed rock. The palate is opulent but incisive, with tremendous concentration, density and chew, almost carrying the structural energy of a red wine while remaining remarkably alive and fresh. The fruit is difficult to identify in any conventional way, which is part of the fascination, and the inner-mouth aromatics are thrilling. The finish is long, mineral and deeply resonant, with this uncanny honeycomb character, not honey itself, but almost the greatest ice-cream cone imaginable without the ice cream. Juicy, powerful, complex and beautiful in a way that feels unique in the world of wine. There is simply nothing else quite like Château Simone.

By the glass at La Table de Olivier Nasti. Young but luminous. Just a brilliant wine and food wine. No formal notes.