The Maison Barboulot Marsanne-Viognier 2017 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive sourced from vineyards near the Black Mountains in the Languedoc region of Southeast France (along the Mediterranean Ocean). Maison Barboulot is a brand name, there is no Maison Barboulot estate and the label is faux French. It is actual French writing, but none of it is anything that you would find on a typical French wine label. It says thing like “bottled with care“. and “you should see my Chateau”, or “I like White wine“. The label does provide some atmosphere on your table, just hope nobody there can read French. This White wine blend is classified an IGP Pays d’Oc wine, which means the wine is typical of the Languedoc region, but the wine was produced to less stringent rules than the AOC classified wines. There are many reasons why a wine would be classified IGP rather than AOC, could be as simple as to where a vineyard was located and valued priced wines are often in the IGP category. Marsanne (70%) and Viognier (30%) are a typical wine blend of the Languedoc. The alcohol content is 12.5%. The label is fake French, lets see if the wine inside the bottle is the real deal.
The color is clean, clear, pale, golden yellow. The nose is pretty, tropical fruit, peach and pear, lemon, melon, grapefruit, citrus cough drops, and dried pineapple pieces. This is a crisp White wine with a touch of sweetness that finishes dry. It tastes of lime, lemon, peach and melon, along with green apple. The mid-palate adds orange zest, pear and tart Fuji apple. The acidity is nicely balanced, this wine sips well and is a food wine, again don’t bring it to a BYOB where the waiter can read French. The finish is long and rather tasty.
The Maison Barboulot Marsanne-Viognier 2017 is a solid summer sipper especially considering the $5.99 price tag, I take back all the mean things I said about it’s faux label. If you can give me a 6 buck wine that is interesting to drink, you can do whatever you want on the front label, I promise not to get snarky. This does not taste like the same old same old, but it’s not from outer space either, the flavors are relatable. If you are in a Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio rut, the Maison Barboulot is an affordable and tasty change of pace.
I agree with your assesment. The Produit de France label is very cheese like. The writing is like someone who barely knows english used google translate to translate that limited english into french. Despite the fact that Viognier and Marsanne can’t hang out together in N Rhone, while both being grown there, I find this Minervois wine to ring in a bit N Rhone-ish. I went back to TJ’s and they had only one bottle left. I guess others found it not to suck, because they started with an ocean of it.
My Trader Joe’s in Alexandria Virginia doesn’t have this delicious wine anymore
Where else can I get it
I think this is a Trader Joe’s exclusive, if they are out you will have to wait till it returns
This Maison Barboulot wine is quite decent. I find its “faked” French label charming even if mispelled.
Dave: You may want to stick to reviewing wines as opposed to giving language lessons!
It does not say “you should see my Chateau” or “I like white wine”. A little research would have shown you this is not fake french but old french.
These are “prayers” to lady birds (or dung beetles) which were typical of the region.
The first refers to the “belief” that lady birds were thought to have acquired their red spots by soaking up the blood of Christ, so this is a demand to give it back, “give me of your red wine (blood)”. In some regions this was followed by the threat “or I will kill you”. Here it seems to be offering something in return, “I will give you my white wine”.
The second is more of a request for a weather forecast: “Climb up onto your hat to see if it will be fine”.
“Chafau” was old french for “Chapeau”.
Love the wine. Love the comments. Love the label and multiple meanings. I live 1 1/2 blocks from my Joes. Happen to buy 4 bottles of this white just last night as it is by far my most favorite every day table wine. Only thing I found out, is that because it is so smooth, (can a wine be smooth?) that I tend to drink down to about 2 inches left in the bottle before dinners done. Each time. By myself. So what? Love it.
Dave: I hope you will not take my previous comments amiss.
I want to salute you for your endorsement of this region of France (although I think you will find the Black Mountains are situated a little more to the south-west than the south-east). In particular, I hope that you will enjoy not only sharing their wine-making abilities, but also something of their heritage.
The Languedoc-Roussillon area was long over-shadowed by their northern neighbors in Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhone and were content to produce “Vin de Pays” wines which would not have been marketable outside their region, but by adopting new world technologies, such as those promoted by U.C. Davis, they are now able to produce very acceptable wines at price points which even the new world producers themselves find hard to match.
So these wines are now labelled “Pays d’Oc”, proudly reflecting their Occitan and Cather heritage.
I have not actually tried this wine yet, but I did try the Sauvignon-Syrah which has a similar label. At $4.95, it’s very drinkable and a bargain, but I think I still prefer the Revelation Sauvignon-Merlot (now $5.99 at T.J.s) as my go-to party wine. Everybody always asks what it is and where to get it.