Les Gendrines: a truly astounding musketeer

2015 Ctes-du-Rhne Blanc, Les Gendrines, Domaine Pierre Gaillard, Northern Rhne, France (£18.95, reduced to £17.06 by the case, Jeroboams, 020-7730 8108).

I have promised to keep you updated with rare bottles of viognier that pass muster on the proviso that you follow my lead and do not deviate for fear of cataclysmic disappointment. Well, I have a fantastic wine to restore some of your faith in this wayward grape variety. Gaillard is one of my original "Three Musketeers" when I visited the Rhne for the first time in the early 1990s, helping out the late Adam Bancroft with tasting notes, I met Pierre and his neighbours, Franois Villard and Yves Cuilleron.

I was astounded by their wines and so I gave them this nickname to cement these winemakers in peoples' minds. Their collective skill, enthusiasm and interpretation of their soils through their wines is as strong today as it was back then. Gaillard's relatively inexpensive "baby Condrieu" is a heart-breakingly beautiful wine.

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In all honesty, I find many Condrieus these days too bulky, hot, sweet and gloopy. Not Gaillard's. If you are seeking a bit of splendid viognier without spending 30 or 40 quid, then look to this master. Les Gendrines even utilises a sizeable percentage of new oak to give it a thoroughly majestic demeanour. This is a truly astounding viognier.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).

Matthew Jukes has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006.

He has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website.

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy. His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.