Xavier Gérard L'Arbuel Condrieu 2020

As we blast into back-to-school season and pumpkins tumble out of every store in sight, I’m clinging to the final days (over a month, really!) of Summer. This pretty, floral, and bright Viognier from Northern Rhône’s small Condrieu appellation is my number one ally – although its luscious bushels of orchard fruit also seamlessly carry into Fall quite nicely, now that I think of it. Under $30 on an organic 92-point French white with this much elegance feels like the perfect way to cap off the season!

Xavier Gérard took over his family's Côte-Rôtie and Condrieu vineyards with the 2013 vintage and has spent the years since building an ironclad reputation for precise, pretty, and restrained whites. The L'Arbuel is his Condrieu, and it's floral and generous, full of apple and pear, with enough acidity to keep it from turning heavy the way Viognier sometimes does.

The wine comes from two tiny, organically farmed plots. One is a 0.18-hectare piece of high-altitude, west-facing Corbery; the other a 0.32-hectare parcel just downslope in Marmouzin, both on granite and muscovite. Gérard picks in two passes about ten days apart – the first for acidity, the second for fruit – then ages the wine 18 months, mostly in older barrels with some in steel. The slopes are steep enough that everything has to be done by hand, and he ferments spontaneously and keeps the winemaking traditional. 

This stunning white pours with a floral and bright jasmine essence before filling in with orchard fruit – the juicy peach and cream that Viognier is known for, plus honeycrisp apple, ripe apricot, and Bosc pear that make this vintage read fresh rather than heavy. The granite and muscovite soils leave a mineral trace running underneath, while bits of cantaloupe and mango happily carry you to the luscious and smooth finish. You would think that such a pretty wine – from a tiny, restricted appellation in the Northern Rhône, grown on steep, organically farmed slopes that prompt low yields – would cost a fortune. Yet it’s miraculously under $30, a wonder when you factor in importing on top of everything else! Whatever you do, don’t stop at just one. 

FOOD PAIRINGS: This halibut en papillote with green olive salsa verde is so insanely good, and the salty, citrusy olive and herb salsa does a sultry dance with the silky fruit of the wine.