Condrieu

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The vineyard is located some forty kilometres south of Lyon, on the eastern edge of the Massif central, between the Côte Rôtie appellation to the north and Saint-Joseph to the south.
• The geographical zone is delimited across seven communes spread over the departments of Rhône, Loire, and Ardèche.
• The landscape is dominated by steep hillsides that drop sharply above the right bank of the Rhône, where the pronounced gradient and fragility of the poor, friable soils require the vines to be trained on individual stakes and cultivated on narrow terraces known as chaillées, held in place by low dry-stone walls called cheys.
• The northerly wind known locally as the Bise, cold and dry, desiccates the foliage and limits the development of fungal diseases, which calls for the selection of relatively sheltered and sun-exposed sites.
• The Mistral blows frequently in this zone, a phenomenon attributed to the compression of air within the Rhône corridor. (via Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0)
• The climate is semi-continental in character with strong Mediterranean influences, featuring hot, sunny summers, mild autumns, and slightly harsh winters in which the Bise intensifies the sensation of cold. (via Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0)

• The Viognier variety, which had been reduced to barely around 8 hectares in 1965, was used to gradually repopulate the vineyard, which had reached more than 140 hectares by 2010.
• Like the Syrah variety, Viognier — a second-époque variety with fairly late ripening — is grown here at the limit of its cultural possibilities, which allows it to express its full potential.
• The appellation d'origine contrôlée Condrieu was recognised on 27 April 1940, exclusively for still white wines, across the communes of Condrieu, Vérin, and Saint-Michel-sur-Rhône.
• The encépagement of this appellation rests exclusively on a single variety, Viognier, as is also the case for the château-grillet appellation.

• The wine is characterised by a golden robe with intense golden highlights, with a nose developing aromas of peach and above all apricot, sometimes violet and white blossom.
• On the palate it is powerful, with a remarkable balance, rich and supple without being heavy, sustained by a lively freshness that gives it a long, intense aromatic finish.
• In the mid-nineteenth century the wine was sweet and could be drunk six months after vinification, whereas by 2010 it is most often dry, sometimes off-dry.

• The fissured subsoil allows Viognier, a variety suited to acidic soils and cultivated at the northern limit of its range, to draw water and minerals in order to achieve well-balanced, sugar-rich harvests.
• This distinctive subsoil imparts to the dry and off-dry wines a characteristic freshness that underpins the full breadth of their wide aromatic range.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.

All appellations in France

Sources

• Product specification (BO Agri, PDF) — approved 4 juillet 2024, JORF 7 juillet 2024
• Official INAO text (show_texte)
• INAO product entry
• Official trade body site — Inter Rhône