Domaine Verzier, St Joseph "Granit" Blanc, 2023

Terrific, Long and Stony finish Northern-Rhône

"Really delicious oaked, certified-biodynamic northern-Rhône blend of Marsanne and Roussanne. Pungent with notes of mirabelle and peach. Quite a rich start and then a bone-dry, attractively bitter end. A very superior wine!"
-Jancis Robison

• Aged 90% in barrel and 10% in clay amphorae
• Blend of Marsanne and Roussanne

STORY BEHIND THE WINE

The farm has been in the Verzier family since 1828. It sits on the top of the hill in the commune of Chavanay, just beside the Madone d’Izeras, in the heart of the Saint-Joseph and Condrieu vineyards, on the right bank of the Rhône River, 50 km south of Lyon.
Philippe, the youngest of 7 children, fell in love with these gnarled vines and took over the domaine in 1988, at the age of just 19.
At the time, the land was used for mixed farming, with cereals, fruit, vines, cows and goats. But Philippe wanted to devote himself entirely to winegrowing and started his activity with his father Jean’s 2.5 hectares of Saint-Joseph.
He replanted a few plots, including his first Condrieu under La Madone, stopped sending the grapes to the cooperative winery and produced his first vintage in 1988 in the winery he had set up.
The once tiny wine domaine has since grown to 16.5 hectares. Maxime, Philippe’s son, joined the domaine in 2016 after obtaining work experience in Alsace, Burgundy, Canada and South Africa. Deeply attached to his terroir, Maxime brings with him a desire to experiment with methods he learned during his time abroad.
The domaine has been certified organic since 2013 and biodynamic (Demeter) since 2018.