Jean-Luc Colombo Amour de Dieu Condrieu 2014

Condrieu is a classic rag-to-riches story, like J K Rowling just with less wizards, wands and plots holes. "The Philosopher Stone is supposed to have the greatest security any wizarding object can receive, yet three 11-year olds circumvent it in one night! Nicolas Flamel should be furious!" We kid Ms Rowling, despite being adults, literally everyone at Oddbins has the Deathly Hallows symbol tattooed on them.

Just as J K Rowling was struggling before publishing the first Harry Potter book, writing chapters on tissue paper in cafés, so too did Condrieu. In the 70s this famous Northern Rhône white nearly fell out of existence as the unfashionability of the region clashed with how labour intensive the vineyards were. Thankfully, they both received the recognition they deserved; Condrieu now has 10x the amount of land under vine and with wines such as this, beautifully complex, packed with spice, apricot and peach characters, you can see why.

Jean-Luc Colombo is a relatively young company by French wine standards. In 1982 the family moved to Cornas, in the heart of the Rhône Valley and purchased the first vineyard in 1986. Today, as well as owning vineyards in Cornas, they are pioneering vineyard development in the stunning blue coast area in Provence and have their own winery, bottling line and oenology laboratory in the centre of Cornas. Their philosophy is classic: it is about respecting the fruit, with vinification and elevage (post-vinification) that aims to exalt elegance and complexity, with good fruit and freshness and balanced minerality, alcohol and tannins. Jean-Luc Colombo’s wines provide exceptional quality for everyday Rhône drinking. Jean-Luc originally ran his own pharmacy and oenology laboratory before deciding to produce his own range. Husband, father and winemaker, he is a charismatic figurehead with the affectionate nickname of ‘the winemaking wizard of the Rhône valley’. The wine is raised on its fine lees, 1/3 in new oak, 1/3 in 1 year old and 1/3 in 2 year old oak barrel. A weekly stirring of the lees takes place during the first months. Then the malolactic fermentation takes place in oak barrels.