Maxime Francois Laurent Côtes du Rhône Blanc Pantomine 2023
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The Land
Pantomine comes from a single, 30-year-old parcel of white Grenache and Bourboulenc in Montbrison-sur-Lez, the same village at the northern edge of the southern Cotes du Rhone where Domaine Gramenon is based. The vines grow on clay-limestone soil over sand, farmed organically by a grower Maxime-Francois Laurent sources from directly rather than through his own domaine. It is Rhone geography at its most local: a single hillside a short walk from the Gramenon cellar, in the same clay-limestone and sandy country that shapes everything the family makes, just under a different label and a different set of hands in the vineyard.
The Wine
50% Grenache Blanc and 50% Bourboulenc, hand-picked and sorted, fermented with native yeast in stainless steel, with malolactic blocked depending on the vintage and no additions beyond a light touch of sulfur. Aging is six months in stainless tank, bottled at the start of spring. The style is built for freshness rather than weight: pear, lemon pith, and a faint garrigue herbal note on the nose, with a crisp, tight palate and real length for a wine this unadorned. The 2023 vintage in the southern Rhone ran through a wet, mildew-pressured spring before an August heatwave pushed the harvest earlier, with cooler September nights helping preserve the acidity that keeps this wine as taut as it is.
The People
Maxime-Francois Laurent grew up at Domaine Gramenon, the estate his parents Philippe and Michele Aubery-Laurent built starting in 1978, and started his own negociant house in 2006 while still working alongside his mother in the family cellar. Rather than farm every wine himself, Maxime buys grapes from a small circle of growers in Montbrison-sur-Lez and Valreas, all farming at minimum organically, and vinifies with the same hands-off, no-additive approach that defines Gramenon. It is a negociant project run less like a business and more like a curator's list: a handful of parcels, chosen growers, and wines that carry his own name rather than his mother's.
Food Pairing
Pantomine's citrus and mineral edge make it a wine for shellfish and simple preparations. Try it with garlic and lemon shrimp, a nicoise salad with tuna and olives, fresh chevre with herbs, or grilled sardines. Its acidity is bright enough to cut through olive oil and brine without needing richness to back it up. It is a wine to drink young and often, not to save for a special occasion.
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The Rhône Valley is a diverse and historic wine region, divided into two distinct areas. The Northern Rhône is the birthplace of Syrah, with steep, terraced vineyards that produce some of the world's most revered wines, such as those from Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie. The Southern Rhône is much more expansive, offering a wider range of styles, but typically based around Grenache-based blends, with wines from Châteauneuf-du-Pape known for their complexity and power. While the region is celebrated for its reds, it also produces incredible textured whites, and as a whole the region displays the spectrum of French wine and the incredible differences that can come from small geographic changes.
