A fragrant and heady Condrieu is a perfect partner to rich textures and exotic spice. Go for a chicken, apricot and almond tagine, lemongrass butter-poached lobster or firecracker salmon with peach-avocado salsa.

The Cuilleron family domaine, located in the hamlet of Verlieu (part of the town of Chavanay) was founded several generations ago (1920). Yves Cuilleron's grandfather was the first to bottle wine for commercial purposes in 1947. Yves assumed full ownership and direction of the domaine in 1987 and, since that time, has built an entirely new facility while at the same time acquiring additional vineyard property. The domaine is now (as of 2012) significantly larger in scope with 52 hectares of vineyards that cover multiple appellations, including principally, Condrieu, Saint Joseph Rouge and Blanc, Cote Rotie, Saint Péray and a series of Vin de Pays from the Collines Rhodaniennes. Most of the vineyards are situated in and around the commune of Chavanay which is just south of the town of Condrieu; obviously, the holdings in Cote Rotie extend north into Ampuis and the holdings the furthest south are in the village of Saint Péray. To control yields, Cuilleron does extensive debudding and, when necessary, practices a “green harvest”. In the cave, the grapes (harvested manually) are fermented using indigenous yeasts. The fermentations of the appellation controlée white wines are done in small barrel of one to four years age; malolactic fermentations are done in barrel as well and the elevage continues for nine months before the wines are bottled.