Condrieu “Le Tinal” AOC 2023 500ml

Wine description for Condrieu “Le Tinal” AOC 2023 500ml by Maison Stephan

Colour & Appearance

Bright lemon yellow with golden and green reflections – brilliant, precise, and youthfully fresh in the glass.

Nose

A perfume of apricot, peach, and tangerine, accompanied by kumquat, mango, and pineapple. Ripe pear meets violet and acacia honey, underpinned by fennel seeds, aniseed, coriander, liquorice, and thyme. Dense, clear, refined – a cocktail that does not shout but whispers, yet fills every corner of the room.

Palate

Full-bodied and crystalline at once, powerful yet ethereal. Where many Condrieus become broad and opulent, Le Tinal remains razor-sharp, almost weightless, with salty precision and ethereal lightness. The fruit and spice components are present, yet the wine carries them like silk – not velvet. This has true stature.

Finish

Long, precise, with lingering minerality and a hint of thyme and liquorice. The acidity remains vibrant, the fruit clear – a finish that feels more like a question than an answer.

Terroir & Origin

The vines are located on the Lieut-Dit Le Tinal in the commune of Vérin, south of Côte-Rôtie. Granite and biotite soils, facing south/southeast, provide ideal conditions for deep-rooting vines. Jean-Michel Stephan, established in the region since 1991, cultivates old Viognier vines here together with his son Romain, farming organically.

Grape Variety & Vinification

100% Viognier from old vines. Hand-harvested, wild fermentation, maturation for one year in used casks – an approach that preserves the fruit and refines the texture without dominating it.

Food Pairings

Pan-fried turbot with saffron butter, cured quail with apricot chutney, Roquefort with walnuts, Thai curry with coconut milk and coriander, grilled asparagus with almond hollandaise.

Special Features

The 500ml bottle is rare – a tribute to concentration rather than quantity. The wine combines the opulence of Condrieu with a precision one would sooner expect in Côte-Rôtie. A Viognier that feels not heavy but ethereal – saline, almost electric, with a tension that makes the 2023 vintage one of the most fascinating in recent memory.