Pear Skin, Stone Fruits, Elegant

Rhone / White / Viognier / Organic 

Stéphane’s Condrieu comes from a very steep south-facing vineyard in the lieu-dit of Gonon at Malleval where the soil is granitic. Half aged in cuve and half in older barrels and never given any batonnage, it went through a long, two years élevage with malos completed, before bottling in September 2019.

Notes on the producer

Starting in 1997, Stéphane Othéguy worked the tiny holdings of Vincent Gasse in Côte-Rotie and Condrieu for seven years and helped out with vinification, so was ideally placed to take over the baton when Gasse retired in 2004. Stéphane is extremely fortunate to have vines that have blossomed for more than 30 years without recourse to the chemical arsenal that is (sadly) still the norm in this area where the vineyards are so steep and hard to work.

His vineyard holdings are now split 1ha Côte-Rôtie on various lieu-dits of the prestigious Côte-Brune, 0.25ha Condrieu, 0.30ha St-Joseph (which he planted himself), and 0.20ha Vin de Pays. He makes no less than three micro-cuvées of Côte-Rôtie. Stéphane decided to stop ploughing the vineyards, preferring to allow the grass to grow to provide competition for the vine, and prevent erosion. But also, crucially, to retain moisture as global warming has in recent years made very hot summers the norm. No sulphur is used during vinification and élevage (carried out for the last three years in the cellars of a rambling old farmhouse "en pleine campagne" near Les Côtes d’Arey, 12km from Ampuis) and just 10mg/l is added when the wines have been assembled just before bottling.