Domaine Stéphane Ogier : La Combe de Malleval 2022

A stunning Condrieu, focused and textured. It expresses notes of preserved lemons, wild herbs, verbena and wildflowers. It’s medium to full-bodied with a fresh core of delicious white fruit and flowers. Focused and funneled, with a textural, flavorful finish. Drink or hold.

The earliest harvest ever at Condrieu for Stephane, the 2022 Condrieu La Combe De Malleval offers a gorgeous perfume of white peach, orange blossom, white flowers, and a terrific sense of minerality. Balanced, medium to full-bodied, lively, and elegant, it's an absolutely incredible Viognier that's as good as anything in the vintage.

Ogier produced the 2022 Condrieu La Combe de Malleval from fully mature grapes planted in two lieux-dits, Veauvignière in the stunning commune of Malleval and La Combe in Saint-Pierre-de-Boeuf. This is showing beautifully today, revealing a flamboyant, vibrant bouquet of white peach, apricot, rose and mint interwoven with lovely aromas of ripe pear. Full-bodied, dense and precise, it’s enveloping and layered, with a rich, fleshy core of fruit and a long, delicate, ethereal finish uplifted by gastronomic bitterness. Built to age gracefully.

The nose is opulent yet finely drawn: ripe pineapple, sweet pastry and a hint of English lemon marmalade open up the aromatic panorama. On the palate, the Viognier shows itself: full-bodied and tightly knit. Depth and ripeness are well balanced by lively freshness. Flavours of grilled pear and candied lemon carry through to a long finish, accompanied by a walnut note. Great with aged cheese.