Guigal Condrieu 1997

[Thraz]

Apricot on the nose, nice and long palate typical of this wine. I was happy that it was really good, because it went through a period of being overly aggressive, as viognier can sometimes be. It was very nice in 2000, then I had a couple of disappointing bottles. I understand that viognier is supposed to be drunk in the firt five years or so, but in this case 2002-4 were not right for this. I had a similar experience with another viognier (much lower end, Chateau Beauchene 2003 from the southern Rhone), very nice upon release but too concentrated now - I will give it a couple of years before getting to the rest of it.