The Explore 4: Mediterranean France

SommSelect’s “Explore 4” surveys the vast landscape of wine and breaks it into small, digestible bites. Each month, we select four bottles that fit a theme, allowing members to experience a diversity of styles while developing their own palate preferences. It’s an ongoing exploration of wine through a sommelier’s eyes and there’s no more effective, and enjoyable, way to learn about wine. Mediterranean France is a vast, densely populated wine landscape. Stretching from France’s border with Spain to its border with Italy—and covering some 1,100 kilometers of mainland coastline—this is a long way from Bordeaux and Burgundy, in style and price. And that’s what’s great about it: When it comes to French wine values, the Mediterranean is the place to be. Here is what is in the box:  Domaine du Bagnol, Cassis Blanc 2021 It doesn’t get more stereotypically “Mediterranean” than the port town of Cassis, about 20 miles east of Marseille on the French Riviera. Domaine Bagnol sits beneath the limest