Domaine Bénetière

Condrieu’s fall from grace, commercial or otherwise, has only relatively recently been addressed, and now, given its meagre dimension, vines are so hard to come by that all those wise enough to have clung onto them in the depressed times are now unlikely to forsake them. Young (with a parenthetical ‘ish’ added) growers such as Pierre Benetière, an alumnus of Domaine Georges Vernay have been lucky to get any foothold at all. His 2.5 hectares are on good south-east facing sites, at an altitude of 250 metres or so... good sites, but not the very best. He manages, paradoxically, by being rigorously conventional, to coax great extract and finesse from his vines, the eldest of which is 20 years old. Barrel fermentation and élevage, coupled with a full malolactic and occasional bentonite fining, can hardly be seen as controversial or even especially inspired. And yet his Condrieus are amongst the best in the appellation. It must be something to do with his rather waspish sense of humour.