Crozes-Hermitage, Mule Blanche, Domaine de Thalabert, Paul Jaboulet Aîné 2022
James Suckling 93; Wine Spectator 92; Silver, Sommelier Wine Awards 2025
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Why this wine
Mule Blanche is Jaboulet's white Crozes-Hermitage, from old vines in the Conflans sector planted between 1956 and 1974. Part-fermented in oak and aged on its fine lees, it has weight without losing the lemony lift. Northern Rhône white is a small category and this is an unshowy way into it.
At a glance
- Grape
- Marsanne, Roussanne
- Region
- Rhône Valley, France
- Alcohol
- 13.50%
- Body
- Medium
- Acidity
- Medium
- Sweetness
- Dry
- Drink
- Medium (5-10 yrs)
- Pairs with
- Poultry & Pork, Seafood, Rich & Creamy Dishes
How it tastes
Discreet on the nose, with white flowers and peach, then ripe pear filling out the palate and lemon peel on the finish. Ample and generous in weight for a dry white, held in shape by fresh acidity and a mineral edge. Marsanne and Roussanne.
The producer
Paul Jaboulet Aîné was founded in 1834 and farms across seven northern Rhône appellations. The Frey family bought the house in 2006 and Caroline Frey now makes the wines, alongside a nine-hectare wildlife reserve and a wider programme of ecosystem work; the vineyards have been certified AB organic since 2016 and cultivated biodynamically, with a regenerative approach, since 2021. This cuvée comes from estate parcels in the Conflans sector, on the left bank of the Rhône at 140 metres, a seven-hectare plot planted between 1956 and 1974 at 5,000 vines per hectare in mostly north-south rows. Its name comes from the mules that worked those high-density rows, being finer and more agile than a horse. The fruit was hand-harvested and sorted by plot, then gently whole-bunch pressed; after settling it fermented in concrete eggs and French oak barrels, 5% of them new, and was aged on its fine lees in the same vessels. In 2022 budburst was late but growth accelerated and flowering came in May under high temperatures, making it one of the three earliest vintages of the last twenty years; a stormy start to summer and beneficial mid-August rain left the wines with real concentration.
Food and drinking
Serve at 10–12°C. Good with roast chicken, pork belly, scallops in butter, or a creamy vegetable gratin. Drink now and over the next five to ten years; no decanting needed. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.