Condrieu
Condrieu AOC · Northern Rhône, France
- 100ml
- £17
- Bottle
- £125
A Coravin draws the wine through the cork under argon without opening the bottle. It lets us pour 100ml of wines we could not otherwise offer by the glass.
- Grape
- Viognier
- Vintage
- 2024
- Region
- Condrieu, Rhône
The short version
This appellation fell to under 12 hectares in the 1960s — it is barely 200 today, for the entire world.
No machine can climb it. Hand-built stone terraces at up to 10,000 vines a hectare, every one worked by hand.
Apricot, white flowers, and bone dry. The perfume promises sweetness the palate never delivers.
How it tastes
Aroma & flavour
Sell it with
Corn Fed Chicken, Roast Courgette, Preserved Lemon & Pecorino
Viognier's apricot and floral perfume runs straight into preserved lemon and fire-roasted poultry. Low acidity means it works by matching richness rather than cutting it — so keep it away from sharp dressings and lean, salty plates, which hollow it out.
Where to take them next
The detail — if they ask
Part stainless steel, part 225-litre barrel, eight months on fine lees. Full-bodied with real fattiness, balanced by freshness — exotic fruit and citrus over a long finish. Intensely aromatic and completely dry, which catches people out: the perfume promises sweetness the palate does not deliver.
Les Alexandrins
- Producer
- Founded in 2009 by Alexandre Caso and Guillaume Sorrel; Nicolas Jaboulet — of one of Hermitage's great families — joined in 2012 and took majority ownership in 2015. The house now covers every Northern Rhône cru.
- Region
- Condrieu is 100% Viognier and nothing else, on granite and gneiss under a crumbled topsoil the locals call arzelle. Steep south-facing terraces, 8,000–10,000 vines a hectare, all worked by hand because no machine can get up there.
- Grapes
- Condrieu is the world benchmark for Viognier — peaches, dried fruit and white flowers, full-bodied, and low in acid, so it lives on texture and aromatic power rather than zing.
The appellation fell to under 12 hectares in the 1960s. It is barely 200 today, making around 30,000 cases for the whole world.