Roussanne

Identity

Roussanne is Hermitage's difficult grape: low vigour, irregular yields, acute susceptibility to powdery mildew — everything about it discourages the hurried grower. And yet none brings a Rhône blend the floral finesse that it alone can give.

Small bunches, berries that turn reddish at full ripeness, sharper acidity than its usual partner Marsanne: Roussanne makes fine whites, powerful nonetheless, with an ageing ability that surprises for so capricious a vine.

History and origin

The name is thought to come from the russet colour its berries take at full ripeness. The Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC, no. 10258) records no full pedigree and no parentage confirmed by genetic markers; its bibliography documents a parent-offspring relationship, without a specific parent named in the data consulted in session. In other words: the kinship often assumed between Roussanne and Marsanne, its long-standing partner at Hermitage, is neither confirmed nor ruled out by this entry — a scientific "maybe" that has not stopped two centuries of shared blending.

The VIVC records 27 synonyms, including "Bergeron," the name in use in Savoie, where Chignin-Bergeron takes its name from it, and "Fromental," more properly a Rhône name.

In the vineyard

According to the Pl@ntGrape datasheet (no. 244, consulted in session), Roussanne buds eight days after Chasselas, the reference variety — a late date, later than an earlier estimate had suggested — and ripens in the second period, three and a half weeks after it. Its vigour is low, its very long shoots need careful trellising, and its pruning must be adapted to the clone.

The variety shows high susceptibility to powdery mildew, grey rot, mites and thrips: a combination of vulnerabilities that largely explains why Roussanne stays a minority planting, even at Hermitage, where it is nonetheless one of only two white varieties allowed. It suits poor, clay-limestone, fairly stony, well-exposed soils.

In the glass

On the nose, a register of great floral finesse: linden blossom, hawthorn, apricot — three notes cited together by Pl@ntGrape, alongside honey, as the variety's aromatic signature — rounded out with a touch of pear. Ageing adds almond and hazelnut.

On the palate, acidity is sharper than Marsanne's (3 to 4), body full (3 to 4), alcohol sustained (3 to 4): Roussanne combines power and freshness, a rare balance. With age, honey settles in, sometimes joined by an aniseed note of fennel, in wines that can keep for ten to twenty years at Hermitage.

Great terroirs

Hermitage, alongside Marsanne, is its absolute benchmark: the appellation rules allow only these two white varieties, for both the white wines and the vins de paille. It is also found, always blended with Marsanne, at Crozes-Hermitage and Saint-Joseph.

In the southern Rhône, the Châteauneuf-du-Pape rules admit it among the allowed white varieties, in a smaller share of a white planting that stays a minority on the appellation.

Commonly confused with

Marsanne, its near-constant blending partner, is the most frequent confusion: Marsanne gives the body and the almond, Roussanne the floral finesse and a livelier acidity. Telling the two apart blind, in a well-made blend, remains difficult even for an experienced taster.

Viognier, another white of the northern Rhône, is told apart by a far more exuberant aromatic profile (orange blossom, peach) and a richer texture, without Roussanne's acid liveliness.