Château GRILLET - Cuvée La Carthery 2019
Château-Grillet is both an appellation and a producer of 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 through the ages (for example, the Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais had around 300 bottles of Château-Grillet in her cellar). Château-Grillet was listed as a 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 the work in the vineyard is carried out by hand. Each plot is pressed and vinified individually to retain the characteristics specific to each terrace. The wines are then aged in French oak barrels of which around 20% are new, and the final blend is carefully made from these barrels.
La Carthery was first introduced in 2017 following two consecutive purchases, one in 2013 and one in 2017. This gave them two plots with 12 dry-stone terraces, known as “chaillées” in the region, that perfectly fit in with patchwork of plots that make up the estate. The two plots of Condrieu cover less than 0.25 hectare and their high-quality terroir is home to vines that are around 20 years old. The largest plot is situated in “La Carthery”, hence the name of this wine. The soil is naturally quite similar to that of Château-Grillet’s plots and vinification methods follow the same philosophy. However, the maturation process is much shorter than Château Grillet.
Grape variety: 100% Viognier
