YVES CUILLERON

From his home in the northern Rhône, this Condrieu specialist knows how to make the Viognier grape sing. In just a couple of decades, Yves Cuilleron has earned a reputation as one of the Rhône’s leading vinous exponents.

He is one third of Les Vins de Vienne’s elevated trio of winemakers, and his own wines from the various appellations he draws upon come in threes - not content with a single expression blended from his various sites, he prefers to explore the individual characters of each location and present them in isolation.

The wines are stunning, with the top expressions sold out each year before even leaving the gates of the estate. Building on a property first established in the 1920s by his grandfather, Yves has upped the ante considerably, creating new facilities and increasing the estate’s holdings from 3.5 to 52 hectares that stretch over a number of appellations, including eight of the 100 hectares that make up Condrieu. In pursuit of the finest possible fruit, Cuilleron’s viticultural approach is all natural. The end result? Power, elegance and a superb sense of place.

Yves Cuilleron

In the space of a decade, Yves Cuilleron has established himself as one of the leading lights of France’s Northern Rhône region. He’s a modernist, but not overly so: his wines straddle neatly the divide between traditionalists and the new-wave, in the sense that they retain their sense of place, but express their site in a slightly more approachable, immediate way. There's a purity to the fruit, and where new oak is used it isn't excessive.

Cuilleron took over the family domaine in 1987, and has since grown it significantly. He owns 8 hectares of the 100 hectares of Condrieu, which makes him one of the top dogs here. But his reds also impress – I was impressed by his St Josephs (perhaps the leading expressions of this appellation, and his Côte-Rôties are pretty good. It’s rare to find a producer with a set of scores as consistently high as these.