2012 Condrieu, Vertige, Yves Cuilleron, Rhône

2012 Condrieu, Vertige, Yves Cuilleron, Rhône

Product: 20128024341
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2012 Condrieu, Vertige, Yves Cuilleron, Rhône

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Description

Our 2012 Rhône Vintage Recommendation: Favourite Northern Rhône White
Lush and peachy on the nose, this is a state-of-the-art Condrieu. Dense and peachy on the palate, with rich fruit, this is crisp, spicy and intense, while also being balanced and fine.
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager

As the name suggests, these are the highest and most precipitous of Yves’ vineyards, close indeed to the legendary Coteau de Vernon, and  the source of a wine which is aged for longer than his other Condrieus. The result is fascinating, with almost contradictory notes of citrus fruit and honey broadening the spectrum provided by the other, more usual Condrieu descriptors.
Simon Field MW, Rhône Wine Buyer 

Yves Cuilleron compares 2012 to 2011; for him the vintage has more concentration and power than its immediate forebear. His house philosophy, whether by accident or design, mirrors the current fashions for later harvests and the addition of a varying degree of stems. Both engender structure and complexity when treated with due respect. Given that there is not the remotest sign of the green on the one hand or the over-ripe on the other, we can infer conspicuous success in these wines.

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate92/100
The richest and most textured in the lineup, the 2012 Condrieu Vertige comes from a single plot planted in the Coteau de Vernon. Barrel fermented and aged, it delivers impressive aromas and flavors of ripe apricot, tangerine, toast, spice and citrus blossom, with distinct minerality. Medium to full-bodied, with a layered mid-palate and good acidity, it will drink nicely for 4-5 years, possible longer.
Jeb Dunnuck - 30/12/2013 Read more

About this WINE

Domaine Yves Cuilleron

Domaine Yves Cuilleron

Founded by his grandfather in 1920, Yves is the third generation of Cuilleron vignerons. Since taking over in 1987, he has grown the vineyard area to 75 hectares, spanning the length of the Northern Rhône. Based in Chavanay, just south of the town of Condrieu, he makes over 40 cuvées from the range of appellations: half red, half white. The domaine is converting to organic certification, aiming to complete in 2025. In addition to the time spent in his vines and cellar, Yves is passionate about the research and revival of traditional, indigenous varieties.

We will offer two of Yves’s top Condrieu cuvées, Vernon and Verlieu. These single vineyard offerings are made like red wines, seeing 18 months ageing in demi-muids (a portion of which is new wood) and lees stirring, to be differentiated only by their vineyard - and notably the type of granite on which they grow. Complex and age-worthy, Yves cautions to drink them within seven years of vintage or to wait a further five to 10 (at risk of finding them in a closed spell).

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Condrieu

Condrieu

Until you’ve tasted Viognier grown in Condrieu, you’ve never truly experienced the grape’s majesty. In the same way that winemakers the world over have planted Pinot Noir in the hope of emulating red Burgundy, so too they’ve planted Viognier in the hope of achieving the unique balance of exotic perfume, weight and freshness for which Condrieu is famed. Few succeed. Traditionally, winemakers here have used relatively inert, large wooden vessels vinification and élevage are in relatively inert, large, wooden vessels, but the new generation of winemakers are increasingly interested in the qualities of new oak.

Plantings have expanded beyond the core of the AOC, around the village itself, to 140 hectares from the low of eight hectares in the 1960s. The vineyards pick up where Côte-Rôtie leaves off, the slope continues, but the schist of the north begins to give way to a little more granite and a topsoil of decomposed mica. Today the appellation is characterised by energy and creativity, and demand for the wines from this diminutive region is soaring.

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Viognier

Viognier

A white grape variety originating in the Northern Rhône and which in the last ten years has been increasingly planted in the Southern Rhône and the Languedoc.

It is a poor-yielding grape that is notoriously fickle to grow, being susceptible to a whole gamut of pests and diseases. Crucially it must be picked at optimum ripeness - if harvested too early and under-ripe the resulting wine can be thin, dilute and unbalanced, while if picked too late then the wine will lack the grape's distinctive peach and honeysuckle aroma. It is most successfully grown in the tiny appellations of Château-Grillet and Condrieu where it thrives on the distinctive arzelle granite-rich soils. It is also grown in Côte Rôtie where it lends aromatic richness to the wines when blended with Syrah.

Viognier has been on the charge in the Southern Rhône and the Languedoc throughout the 1990s and is now a key component of many white Côtes du Rhône. In Languedoc and Rousillon it is increasingly being bottled unblended and with notable success with richly fragrant wines redolent of overripe apricots and peaches and selling at a fraction of the price of their Northern Rhône cousins.

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