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The Domaine de la Madone vineyards are located in Jullié, a small village near Juliénas. The soil composition there is blue granite and clay. Because of its extremely fruity and smooth nature, Beaujolais Villages is easy and pleasant to drink, and therefore best consumed young. However, you can easily keep it for three years or longer.
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Typicity is of great importance for these wines. 100% Pinot Noir wines from the lesser-known yet well placed vineyards of the southern Côte-d’Or are harmoniously united with small lots of superior Santenay or Auxey-Duresses giving an overall result which is startlingly reminiscent of a fine Côte de Beaune wine.
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Good full red. The reticent but pure nose delivers high-pitched notes of rose petal, violet, mint and pungent minerality. Perfumed and penetrating in the mouth, with an insidious subtle sweetness and a rocky precision to the flavors of red fruits and flowers. Finishes with a firm acid spine and toothcoating tannins but no impression of hardness. This calls for seven or eight years of cellaring.
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Aromas of lime, honey, chlorophyll and white flowers, all lifted by a peppery nuance. Tightly wound and juicy, with brisk flavors of grapefruit rind and stone along with a more exotic suggestion of dried fruits. Brisk balancing acidity gives finesse to this firmly structured wine.
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Pineapple, citrus fruit and stone on the somewhat cooler nose. Then fat, dense and dry, with a more citric quality and sharper definition to the taut fruit and stone flavors. A more nervy style but with no lack of density. Finishes with very good length.
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Traditionally just Pinot Noir was grown in this southern Cote de Beaune village but today along with Puligny and Meursault, Chassagne Montrachet is recognised for some of the greatest, powerful and rich Chardonnay in the world. The chalky brown clay found in this area is particularly suited to growing intense white wine. The red wines of the commune are produced north of the village where the soil contains both clay and gravel. They are rustic in character, full bodied and fruity and carry essences of blackcurrant and cherries.
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Just outside of Vienne, one finds the appellation of Condrieu. Condrieu is tiny, with a total production of only a few thousand cases per year. Condrieu is made from 100% Viognier and the wine has an ethereal bouquet of perfume and ripe tropical yellow and orange fruits. There is a gout de terroir that echoes the granite rich soil upon which the vines grow. Its texture is grippy for white wine, in fact almost beeswaxy. Given its small production, the wines are expensive, but for explosively rich and fragrant white wine, Condrieu is in a league of its own.
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Chatillon is Jean Claude’s top site, steep and magisterial, made up of decomposed granite and loess. The wine is suitably powerful, fermented and matured in 80% of barrique, with signature Viognier descriptors of dried apricots, white flowers and soft fruits all appropriate. A glorious texture, the perfect wine to accompany foie gras perhaps.
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The very low yields and great vineyard sites at Domaine Facchin, add additional complexity to these already great wines. The grapes are all hand-harvested (the only possible way to harvest on these steep hillsides). The grapes are then pressed and fermented in 1, 2, and 3 year old French barriques. The wine is then aged in barrel until it is bottled in the spring.
The 2005 Condrieu is an amazingly rich, complex, and structured wine. The nose is
bright and full of white flowers with hints of mango and tropical fruit. In the mouth rich peach and
apricot fruit flavors mingle with mineral and citrus elements. The finish is long, silky, and clean. This is clearly a classic Viognier from a classic Condrieu vintage.
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