Andre Perret Condrieu Coteau du Chery 2015

I once confessed to sipping on Condrieu on a weekday morning.

Herewith the culprit.

The Wine:

Medium lemon with the mandated pronounced nose that Viognier insists upon. Orange blossoms...maybe even acacia, musk, lemon oil, ripe peaches, very ripe nutty apricots, pineapple, a dash of vanilla, a generous pinch of nutmeg, thick crystalline honey, and cream cheesy buttery oakedness.

Dryish, medium acidity, noticeably high alcohol, full bodied and typically waxy feel, with a long finish.

Final thoughts:

I’m a sucker for Viognier and it’s spiced pear vibes. So I’m sad to see this bottle, that served me so darned well with the help of the Coravin, come to an end (see holes in foils as evidence).

Ps. I just found out that that ‘coteau chéri’ means ‘darling hillside’. Can I hear a collective ‘awww’.

Viti & Vini:

Country: France

Region: Condrieu AOC, Northern Rhône

Grape: Viognier

100% Viognier planted in 1955 on arzelle soils (decomposed granite, mica and schist) on 4 hectares  of South/South East facing sleep slopes. The vineyards are hand worked with no systematic treatments, and only moderate use of pesticides are used.

A third of the grapes are fermented in stainless steel, the rest in barriques (25% of which were new) and aged for 12 months with regular lees stirring, followed by settling for 3 months in stainless steel.

Find the wine:

Thanks to the ever awesome and helpful peeps Radford Dale Imports for making these textbook classics available to us in SA!

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