Domaine Georges Vernay
La Blonde du Seigneur
Cote Rotie
2019

The producer

If Georges Vernay was the saviour of Condrieu, his family’s work in Côte-Rôtie has been equally influential in shaping how the world sees this hallowed appellation. From the precipitous granite and schist terraces rising above the Rhône, the domaine crafts Syrah of refinement and precision, wines that balance perfume and power in ways that only Côte-Rôtie can. These slopes are unforgiving to tend, yet they yield some of the most captivating expressions of Syrah in the world.

Today, under the stewardship of Christine Vernay and her husband Paul Ansellem, the estate has become as highly regarded for its reds as for its benchmark whites. Their Côte-Rôtie cuvées, including Maison Rouge, a pure Syrah from vines with an average age of 50 years, and the flagship Blonde du Seigneur; showcase both the grace of the southern sector and the depth and structure that mark the appellation’s best wines. As with their Condrieu, the reds of Domaine Georges Vernay stand as benchmarks: aromatic, elegant, and endlessly age-worthy.

The wine

La Blonde du Seigneur comes from a collection of steep, south- and southeast-facing terraces on schist soils overlooking the Rhône. Crafted predominantly from Syrah with a touch of Viognier, it embodies the hallmark elegance of Côte-Rôtie’s “Blonde” sector. The wine is supple yet finely structured, with lifted violet and red-fruit aromatics, silky tannins, and a lingering freshness that makes it approachable in youth while retaining the capacity to age gracefully.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.