Viognier En Amont 2024

This Viognier cuvée comes from Domaine de Boisseyt, based in Chavanay, on the right bank of the northern Rhône, on the edge of the Pilat massif. The plots, classified as IGP Collines Rhodaniennes, thrive on a light soil with a high proportion of granite and limestone, planted with vines around thirty years old at a density of 8,000 vines per hectare. This hillside terroir, neighbouring Condrieu, gives Viognier a fine aromatic expression.

The grapes are harvested while the berries are still juicy and crunchy, then pressed as whole bunches. After light settling for 24 hours, fermentation takes place in stoneware eggs, where the wine is then aged for 8 months, without racking. This approach preserves the purity of the fruit and brings a tender, precise texture.

This wine reveals notes of white peach, apricot, pear, mirabelle plum, acacia blossom, honeysuckle, lemon zest and fresh almond. Yellow and white fruit dominate a particularly expressive nose, typical of the grape variety, lifted by a floral touch. The palate, tender and juicy, ends on a tangy hint that brings freshness and length.

The cradle of wine culture in Western Europe, France owes its first vines to the Greeks of Phocaea, who settled around Marseille some twenty-six centuries ago, before the Romans spread viticulture along the Rhône and the Garonne and as far as Champagne. In the Middle Ages, Cistercian and Benedictine monks cleared the slopes of Burgundy and patiently mapped out the climats, laying the foundations of the notion of terroir. The 19th century brought the glory of the classifications, then the disaster of phylloxera, which wiped out the vineyards before they were rebuilt on American rootstocks; the creation of the appellations d'origine contrôlée in the 1930s then set the rules that would inspire the whole world. Today, France vies every year with Italy and Spain for first place in world production by volume and remains the ultimate benchmark of the Old World, as much for its age-worthy wines as for its winemaking models. Vineyards cover almost the entire country, from the cool north of Champagne and Alsace to the Mediterranean shores of Languedoc and Provence, by way of the oceanic climates of Bordeaux, the Loire and the South-West, continental Burgundy, the steep slopes of the northern Rhône and the high-altitude valleys of Savoie and the Jura. This mosaic of soils – limestone, schist, gravel or rounded pebbles – explains the extraordinary diversity of styles. As for grape varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominate Bordeaux and produce structured reds, Pinot Noir is the signature of Burgundian finesse, Syrah of the depth of the Rhône, while Grenache, Gamay, Cabernet Franc and Mourvèdre cover every register, from easy-drinking wines to wines for long ageing. Among the whites, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin, Riesling and Viognier offer expressions ranging from lively and mineral to unctuous, all the way to great sweet wines. A land of benchmarks and constant discoveries, France remains the compass for wine lovers the world over.