2016 Condrieu La Combe de Malleval

Stéphane Ogier’s white wine production pales next to that of his reds but he has slowly been increasing his holdings of white wine vineyards, especially at Condrieu. The whites are far from an afterthought for Ogier, who told me that he loves the challenge of moving outside his Syrah comfort zone. He raises much of his Condrieu in large foudres made by the famed Austrian cooper Stockinger and firmly believes, as do many of his colleagues, that these are the optimal vessels for making high-quality, complex white wines. I drank a bottle of Ogier’s 2013 Condrieu La Combe de Malleval just before press time and while it’s mature, and delicious, it still has plenty of life left. I suspect that these 2016s will age even more slowly, and better, than that ’13 as Ogier has been stepping up his game the last couple of years.