Domaine Georges Vernay
Coteau du Vernon
Condrieu Blanc
2016

The producer

The original Georges Vernay is arguably the reason that Condrieu exists as it is today. Taking over the then tiny estate in 1953 he restored and replanted vineyards for decades building faith in the beautiful wines he produced, and inspired others to join the rehabilitation and extend the appellation to cover other pockets of fine terroir. These are steep slopes above the Rhone River that are not easy to establish or maintain, which makes his work the more monumental.

Today the estate covers 8 hectares and is in the hands of George’s daughter Christine and her husband Paul Ansellem. Vernay makes three cuvees: Terrasses de l’Empire, Chaillees de l’Enfer from 50-year-old vines, and a single vineyard Coteaux de Vernon from 60-year-old vines in the heart of the appellation - the latter is a benchmark for all other Condrieus.

The wine

Coteaux de Vernon is from 60-year-old vines in the 2.5-hectare vineyard of south/southeast facing slopes in the heart of Condrieu. Frequently looked to by other producers as a reference, Coteau de Vernon is delicate yet opulent with complex stonefruit aromatics and firm structure.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.