Condrieu

Condrieu Wine - Buy Wine from the Condrieu Region of France

The French word terroir literally translates as ‘earth’ or ‘land’ but it is engrained in the national psyche as a much deeper concept of taste pertaining location. Apparently it was Bendectine monks in Burgundy, in the Middle Ages, who first noticed that the same grape varieties produced different tasting wines when planted in different locations. Unsurprisingly, a nation of small farmers, who are passionate about food and wine, hold the association between taste and place of origin close to their hearts which is why they devised the wonderful Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée system – which first came into effect in Châteauneuf-du-Pape back in 1936.

If one were looking for a textbook example of terroir you could do no better than visit the town and eponymous appellation of Condrieu on the Western bank of the Northern Rhône where less than 150 hectares of vineyard, under the fragmented ownership of almost 60 different vignerons, are devoted to the Viognier grape. This is a special location where the soil, elevation, microclimate, exposure, history and tradition all combine to produce one of the world’s most distinctive and delicious wines. Viognier is a difficult grape to both grow and vinify which almost lead to its extinction in the lean years following the Wall Street crash and the Second World War. Fortunately one man, Georges Vernay, kept the faith and the flame alive by encouraging his young neighbours to produce, bottle and promote the glories of Condrieu. The rest as they say is history and now Georges, aged 87, is enjoying a well-earned retirement and Condrieu is a highly sought after commodity.

Today his daughter Christine oversees the wine-making at Domaine Georges Vernay and is rightly heralded as being among an elite of consistently excellent producers.