Château GRILLET - Cuvée La Carthery 2021
Château-Grillet is both an appellation and a producer in the Rhône Valley. It is one of the first appellations created in France; the wine history of Château-Grillet dates back to the 3rd century, and the notoriety of the estate and its wines can be found throughout the ages (for example, Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais had around 300 bottles of Château-Grillet in her cellar) . Château-Grillet was listed as National Heritage in 1976, and was bought in 2011 by François Pinault , also owner of Château Latour in Bordeaux. The 3.5 hectare vineyard is located south of the famous village of Condrieu and planted with the Viognier grape variety.
Each stage of working the vines is carried out by hand. Each plot is pressed and vinified individually to preserve the characteristics specific to each terrace. The wines are then aged in French oak barrels , approximately 20% of which are new , and the final blend is carefully made from these barrels.
La Carthery was created in 2017 following two consecutive acquisitions, one in 2013 and the other in 2017. This gave them two plots with 12 dry stone terraces, called “chaillées” in the region, which integrate perfectly into a patchwork of plots that make up the estate. The two Condrieu plots cover less than 0.25 hectares and their high-quality terroir is home to vines that are around twenty years old. The largest plot is located in “La Carthery”, hence the name of this wine. The soil is naturally quite close to that of the Château-Grillet plots and the winemaking methods follow the same philosophy. However, the maturation process is much shorter than Château Grillet.
Grape variety: 100% Viognier