François Villard : Villa Pontciana 2023

Characteristics and tasting notes of the Condrieu "Villa Pontciana" 2023 by François Villard

Tasting

Colour
With a straw-yellow to pale golden hue, this wine displays lovely freshness and a non-oxidative approach.

Nose
The aromatic bouquet opens with delicate notes of honeysuckle and spring flowers, harmoniously blended with aromas of white peach, apricot and lemon flesh. On aeration, the nose gains in complexity, revealing touches of jasmine, acacia blossom, green almond and yellow plum, along with subtle nuances of cedar and bitter orange.

Palate
Full-bodied and remarkably intense, the palate offers a silky, round texture. This wine stands out for its great complexity, unveiling multiple layers of perfectly integrated exotic flavours, underpinned by an elegant mineral backbone.

Food and wine pairing
This white wine pairs beautifully with seafood such as lobster, crab or scallops, particularly when served with butter-based sauces. It also enhances sushi and sashimi, roasted poultry with mushrooms and light cream sauce, as well as refined vegetarian dishes such as asparagus or artichoke heart risotto.

Service and storage
With its solid mineral structure, the Condrieu "Villa Pontciana" 2023 has an ageing potential of 5 to 10 years, or even longer. It is advisable to let it age for a few years in bottle so that it can reveal the full depth of its aromatic expression.

Other characteristics
This cuvée is the result of a rigorous selection of the estate's finest barrels, making it an extremely limited and rare edition, crafted to offer the quintessence of the terroir.

The elegance and minerality of a great Condrieu white wine

The estate
Founded in 1989 by François Villard, a former restaurant professional turned self-taught winemaker, the estate has established itself as a key reference in the northern Rhône Valley. Still the owner and head of the estate today, François Villard cultivates around forty hectares of his own vines and sources grapes from an additional 25 hectares. Certified organic since 2022, the estate stands out for its minimal-intervention approach, favouring the authentic expression of the terroir.

The vineyard
The wine is produced exclusively from the Poncins lieu-dit, one of the most renowned terroirs of the Condrieu appellation. The vines, around 50 years old, are planted on very steep slopes with an incline of up to 60%. This unique terroir, composed of granitic soils and mica schist, gives the wine a distinctive mineral and saline signature. Due to the steepness of the slopes, all vineyard work and harvesting is carried out by hand, in strict accordance with organic farming principles.

Winemaking and ageing
The "Villa Pontciana" 2023 cuvée undergoes bespoke winemaking designed to preserve the purity of the fruit and the complexity of the terroir. Ageing takes place over ten months on fine lees, with no racking, to bring texture and great aromatic richness to the wine. This ageing is carried out using a measured proportion of 30% new oak barrels, with the remainder resting in used barrels to avoid masking the wine's natural aromas with overly pronounced oak.

Grape variety
100% Viognier