Domaine Chante Cigale Cicada

A bright, generous white from the Rhône made from Grenache Blanc, Piquepoul Blanc and Viognier. There’s ripe lemon, lime and pear up front, with a soft, rounded texture and a silky mineral finish. It’s dry and fresh, but there’s enough weight to make it feel like much more than a simple crisp white.

Cicada comes from Domaine Chante Cigale, a family estate based in Châteauneuf-du-Pape with roots going back to the 1800s. The Grenache Blanc and Piquepoul come from clay-limestone soils in the southern Rhône, while the Viognier comes from farther north. Because the grapes cross regional boundaries, the bottle gets the broader Vin de France designation rather than a Rhône appellation.

And yes, the name really is about cicadas. It’s a nod to the famously noisy cicadas that soundtrack summers in Provence and the southern Rhône.

Bright, sunny and ridiculously easy to drink. Basically southern France in a bottle, minus the plane ticket.