Description
Perret’s approach to winegrowing is classic: respect each individual terroir—he produces several single-vineyard wines—and work the soil to avoid the need for chemical treatments. His goal is to make fresh, structured wines, in “a sort of Burgundian style” as he says, but without too much wood; wines that aren’t too worked over and will age well. His Condrieu bottlings are reference points for the entire appellation. In 1995 André built a new cellar, but he has never expanded beyond the very best terroirs and keeps the estate small so he can maintain his standards of manual labour in the vineyards and individual attention to all of his wines.
Average age of vines: 60 years // 100% Viognier // Fermentation: 1/3 in stainless steel vats and 2/3 in wooden vats // Maturing: 12 months (regular stirring of the lees followed by racking). The wine is then preserved on its lees for 1 year before being botled.
Tasting Notes
Tasted from barrel, the 2017 Condrieu Chery is simply textbook stuff, with floral and apricot notes that are fresh and vibrant, flamboyant yet balanced. It’s full-bodied but floats above the palate rather than weighing it down, with tremendous length on the silky finish. [95-97 Points, Joe Czerwinski – December 2018, robertparker.com]
