2012 Condrieu

The northern Rhone red wines produced by Gigondas-based Louis Barruol for his negociant label are always 100% serine because he believes that "it's not possible to get maximum expression from clones, which always put fruit ahead of terroirand lack the perfume of serine, especially as the wines age." He admitted that it's tough to do business in the north as a small negoce because he has to compete with deep-pocketed, aggressive northern Rhone-based wineries that are pursuing the same fruit. As prices for vineyard land continue to rise, more wineries are having to source grapes rather than buy hyper-expensive land in the best appellations, he said, putting smaller--and in particular outside--buyers like him into an increasingly difficult spot. "Relationships are everything, and always have been, but especially now because there's a lot of money floating around and it's not going to slow down."