This is an utterly beautiful white wine that is very much in the style of the most famous Rhone white that there is. Made from Viognier, the wine has a fleshy, yellow and stone-fruit flavour profile with naturally lower levels of acitidy, while remaining fresh enough and balanced. Exquisite with crustaceans or as a decadent aperitif.
It is very special and in very short supply!
This champion wine-maker of the Rhone produces some of the most exclusive wines in the region. Cuilleron knows exactly what each plot is able to yield in terms of quality, style and character and in that regard is a master of all of the vines he tends. This wine is made from the best selection of vines on the hills next to the most famed sites in the Rhone, and they are a selection found only on shallow, granitic soils in the Chavanay sub-zone. This base provides a superb platform for the grapes to ripen with minimal intervention from the vineyard team, who, in truth, only fertilise when necessary with organic fertilisers and don't even spray with insecticides. The result is this single-plot cuvée, wonderfully complex, rich and pure varietal expression that is matured in large oak vats for seven months on its fine lees. It is treated as though it was Condrieu, and in many ways is just as expressive. A very special wine.
Yes, just a note; this is now the 2024 vintage, which you might think is very youthful (to say the least). Well, it is; but these days that doesn't have such negative connotations as it used to and especially not for white wine. I'd always ask myself if it is ready for drinking; in other words, is there any aspect of the wine that isn't quite right, or that will be ironed-out, or better in a year or so. The answer here, because of the skill of the winemaker, is no! It's perfectly ready to drink and there is nothing I'd want change now. It will develop and change subtly in time, but it won't get any better, nor any worse.
David Duclaux, Co-President of AOC Côte-Rôtie, declares that “2024 is a very good vintage but it required a lot of work and challenged us a lot. We have received more than 800 millimetres of rain since April, a record. We have been mowing, hedging, going through the vineyards with the brush cutter and the pickaxe. The three weeks of sunshine in August and a very cold north wind at the beginning of September generated concentration, fruit and colour leading to a very beautiful vintage, harvested mid-September, with balances reminiscent of wines from the early 2000s. All the winegrowers are delighted with the quality."
If you want to drink Condrieu, but haven't quite the stomach for the prices, then get your chops around this!
Region: Rhone Valley
Country: France
Grape(s): Viognier
Style: Svelte, Structured, Pure, Organic, Medium Full, Fresh, Fleshy, Dark, Complex
Best food matches: Venison, Tuna, Tapas, Steak, Roasts, Red Meats, Poultry, Mature Cheeses, Hard Cheeses, Grills, Fine Dining, Cheeses, Charcuterie, Beef, Barbecue
Alcohol: 12.5%
