Winemaker Notes
The color is a straw yellow, with green tinges. This Condrieu has layers of amazingly powerful and complex aromas: violets, apricots, peaches, honey and dried fruit. On the palate, these exuberant flavors are rich, powerful, and highly seductive, with an unctuous texture and a mass of exotic fruit on the finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Notes of smoke and spice mingle into honeysuckle and lychee in this perfumed, fruity white. The palate is opulent and creamy, packed with white peach, lychee and apricot flavors. It is freshened by a lingering mineral crush and hints of fresh herb and leaf. Enjoy this complex, hedonistic wine now through 2030.
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Wine Spectator
Ripe, flattering style, with a brioche frame around the mix of mirabelle, creamed peach, nectarine, acacia and lemon curd notes. Everything knits nicely through the unctuous finish. Drink now through 2025.
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James Suckling
Here’s a wine for those who often find Condrieu too soft and/or rich. I love the ripe-peach and pineapple aromas and the restrained richness (in the context of this appellation that tends to opulence), a hint of grapefruit pith-like bitterness accentuating the impression of freshness.
Full-figured and charmingly floral, Viognier is one of the most important white grapes of the northern Rhône where it is used both to produce single varietal wines and as an important blending grape. Look for great New World examples from California, Oregon, Washington and cooler parts of Australia. Somm Secret—Viognier plays a surprisingly important role in the red wines of Côte Rôtie in the northern Rhône. About 5% Viognier is typically co-fermented with the Syrah in order to stabilize the color, and as an added benefit, add a subtle perfume.
As the source of some of the most vibrant and powerful white wines in France, Condrieu is uniquely situated in one of the northern outposts of the Rhone River. It is the original Viognier appellation with a wine growing history reaching back well over two thousand years. Like most of the wine regions of the Northern Rhone, Condrieu’s vines grow on extremely steep and narrow granite terraces. But what makes the region unique is a topsoil, locally called, “arzelle,” made of decomposed mica. This and a sheltering of the harsh northern winds, make optimal sites to produce opulent and brilliant Viognier. It is a tiny zone with no room for expansion and produces miniscule amounts of wine each year, contributing to its allure.
A fine Condrieu will have aromas and flavors suggestive of ripe stone fruit, lime peel, green almond, ginger, white flowers and toasted nuts. A honeyed smell may mislead you to think the wine will be sweet but the modern style favors totally dry on the palate. Its texture will be full and soft but a touch of mineral will provide great balance.