2002 | Château-Grillet | Blanc

Medium red. Full-blown aromas of coffee, mocha and game. Less fruity than the basic village wine but dense, sweet and nicely fresh, with a deep middle and plenty of medicinal reserve. Finishes with substantial dusty tannins and persistent notes of chocolate, coffee and underbrush.

Producer Information

Château-Grillet is a small, 3.5-hectare (nine-acre) wine estate and also an individual appellation within the wider Condrieu region of the northern Rhône Valley. As with Condrieu, Château-Grillet specialises in the production of Viognier wines. The site was one of the very first appellations created in France (in 1936), and is one of only a small number of French appellations to hold just a single producer (the Clos de Tart Grand Cru vineyard – see below – is one example, as are other numerous Burgundian monopoles). At just 3.5 hectares (9 acres) in size, it is also one of the smallest estates in France. The winemaking history of Château-Grillet goes back to the Third Century, and the distinction of the estate and its wines can be traced throughout the ages. For example, Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais, the first wife of Napoleon I, had around 300 bottles of Château-Grillet in her wine cellar and US Minister to France (and later president) Thomas Jefferson visited the property in 1787. Château-Grillet was made a national heritage site in 1976, and in 2011, was bought by French luxury goods billionaire François Pinault, who also owns Château Latour, Clos de Tart and Domaine d'Eugénie in Burgundy, and Eisele Vineyard in Napa. The vineyard is located on the west bank of the northern Rhône, just south of the commune of Condrieu but within the northern section of the Condrieu appellation (itself just five kilometers/three miles southwest of Ampuis, the heart the Côte-Rôtie). The Condrieu appellation stretches around 16km (10 miles) on this side of the river, from the eponymous commune of Condrieu in the north, through Vérin and Saint-Michel-sur-Rhône (in which the Château-Grillet vines are located) to Limony, the southernmost commune. Within the Vérin and Saint-Michel-sur-Rhône communes, Château-Grillet holds ten individual and part-parcels. Vines are planted over 76 stone terraces, or "chaillées", in a rough, amphitheatre-like shape. The south-facing slopes enjoy ample sun during the growing season – "grillet" refers to the sun-baked or "grilled" hillsides of the estate, much like the Côte-Rôtie to the north. Every stage of the vineyard work is carried out by hand. Each parcel is pressed and vinified individually to preserve the characteristics specific to each terrace. The wines are then aged in French oak, approximately 20 percent new, and the final blend is carefully crafted from these barrels. Any wine that does not quite match the requirements for the Château-Grillet is made into a Côtes-du-Rhône wine, formerly labeled Pontcin. In 2017, the estate added a standard Condrieu wine to the lineup. Labeled La Carthery, the wine is produced from terraced sites neighboring the property, acquired in 2013 and 2017.

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