Château Grillet 2007

It is not often that I get to taste Château Grillet, the only property in France with its own appellation. This tiny estate with 3.5ha of vines is surrounded by the Condrieu AOC and planted with the same grape, Viognier. It was owned by the Neyret-Gachet family until 2011 and it is fair to say that the quality of the wine has been distinctly variable. The only other vintage that I have tasted (a number of bottles of 1979) from my own cellar was something of a disappointment. So, when a good and generous friend produced a bottle of 2007 from his cellar before a late Sunday lunch, I was excited to try this rare wine with its esoteric rather than stellar reputation. On this occasion it more than lived up to expectation: still relatively pale and youthful in colour appearance, taut and elegant on the nose, perhaps with more to give, but with wonderful underlying richness which was evident on the palate; broad, verging on waxy with ripe apricot fruit cut by a wonderful streak of pineapple-like acidity and leading to a soft, balanced finish. 14% abv but it didn’t show, such was the wine’s overall poise. Viognier can be soapy and over-ebullient, especially when combined with new oak but I am let to believe that, at this time, fermentation was finished off in barrel with one new 300 litre barrel added to the cellars each year. This wine was a model of restraint and (unless this was just an exceptional bottle), the 2007 has plenty of life left in it after 18 years. No mark here (I was drinking rather than tasting and I am not sure what point of reference I would use to award a mark) but the 2007 Château Grillet was a truly exceptional and memorable wine.