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 2021 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.
2021 was a nearly perfect vintage in the Northern Rhone and while other regions may have struggled, the Northern Rhone saw the best estates prepared and able to handle the weather to their advantage, even with smaller yields.
Top producer Jerome Coursodon summed it up like this: "The great news is that the result is exceptional both in a normal quantity and in a classically chiselled vintage with great balance and acidity, with alcohol between 12.5 and 13.2. I can’t wait to watch 2021 develop over the years. It could turn out to be one of the truly superb Northern Rhone vintages for in some time, without the excess sun that we’ve been used to recently."
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%
