2011 Condrieu Coteau de Chery

As usual, a prodigious effort, the 2011 Condrieu Coteaux du Chery comes from one of the appellation’s great terroirs. It offers an intense, expansive perfume of honeysuckle, tangerine, lychee nut, white peach and spring flower notes, followed by an elegant, full-bodied white. In each vintage, this cuvee is consistently one of the top three or four wines made in Condrieu. Enjoy the 2011 over the next 3-5 years. One of my (as well as insiders’) favorite Northern Rhone producers is Andre Perret. His red wine offerings are among the most seductive, elegant and complex in the North, and his white wines, especially his Condrieus, are at the top of that appellation’s hierarchy. But first the reds. Perret’s consistently brilliant white wines are among the finest of the Northern Rhone. Importer: Europvin, www.europvin.com