Product Information:
2022 Condrieu is slightly more reserved and more tightly wound than past vintages. Although coming from a fairly warm and dry vintage, the 2022 captures the freshness remarkably well. Landing on a complex finish, a viognier built for the long-haul.
From vines planted in 1990 in a small south facing amphitheatre near Malleval not far from the famous Lys de Volan site formerly owned by Gerard Depardieu and Alain Paret (Guigal recently bought half of Lys de Volan). The soil here is granitic migmatite leococrate which imparts wonderful freshness and texture to the wine. This wine is matured for 8 months in older barriques allowing for a the fresher and more mineral style of Condrieu (13.5% alc). Only 250 dozen produced and thus a rare gem for the cellar.
Maker:
Yann Menager is the owner and winemaker for this small domain, established in 2012 and based in Saint-Joseph, just south of Condrieu. He was the vineyard manager for Yves Cuilleron for almost 20 years and has leveraged his knowledge of the great sites of the northern Rhône to acquire some superb vineyard parcels of his own. Over the last decade he has assembled 6.5 ha in Saint-Joseph, Condrieu and Côte Rôtie.
The vineyards are all managed organically with no herbicides used, picking is done by hand and yields are kept low at around 35 hL/ha or less (maximum yield allowed for Saint Joseph is 40 hl/ha). The wines are made at Yann’s small stone winery in the tiny hamlet of Champailler, located very high above the vineyards of Saint Joseph at 798 m elevation (no vines at this elevation here - mostly just mixed farms of cows sheep and goats) and just below the aptly named Roche Paradis.
Philosophy:
All the wines undergo natural ferment and natural malolactic conversion (including for white wines). The whites are whole-bunch pressed for maximum finesse and the reds all see 30-60 % whole bunches in the ferment. Larger barrels and demi-muids are increasingly being used with some 400 litre Syvlain barrels. All the wines are bottled un-fined and unfiltered.
Yann’s goal is to make the wines as simply as possible, with minimum intervention and a focus on purity. The result is a small range of wines that show superb energy and balance, with a freshness and finesse that harks back to the days before super-extraction and lots of new oak became de-rigueur in the Northern Rhône. These are beautifully fresh and fine terroir driven wines that speak of the granite and schist soils they are grown in. Needless to say they will remain an insiders’ secret as very little gets exported. It's one of those wines consumed in some of the best restaurants of the region in Lyon and nearby.
Nose - Lemon Flesh, Apricot, Spring Blossoms
Offering a terrific perfume of orange blossom, honeyed flowers, and subtle spicy, mineral nuances.
Palate - Lemon Peel, Yellow Apple, Slatey
Dazzling intensity of lemon flesh, apricot, white peach, ripe pear, light cedar and quince.
Finish - Refined, Stone Fruits, Persistent Minerals
Fresh and refined, finishing with stone fruit and floral-driven persistence
The Finer Details
Style - White Wine
Varietal - Viognier
Country - France
Region - Northern Rhône
Vintage - 2022
Bottle Size - 750ml
ABV - 13.5%
