Walls’ hidden gems: Clos de la Bonnette, Condrieu

How do we define a great winemaking estate?

Extraordinary terroir, winemaking excellence and a long track record for quality are three criteria that spring to mind.

Clos de la Bonnette can only claim the first two, as Isabelle Guiller-Montabonnet has only been making wine since 2009.

Scroll down to see Matt Walls’ tasting notes and scores for eight Clos de la Bonnette wines

As for the third element, however, I suspect it’s only a matter of time.

History

Isabelle’s husband Henri describes Clos de la Bonnette as ‘the history of us, our adventure.’

Before they planted vines, he was a farmer, growing vegetables near Ampuis, working organically as far back as the 1970s.

Isabelle and Henri met in 1992 and used to walk the hills of Condrieu together. They bought a wooded hillside plot on lieu-dit Côte Bonnette, not with viticulture in mind but ‘because it was so beautiful here,’ says Isabelle.

Their son, Antoine, was born soon after. Henri built their family home himself and gradually pulled out trees on the south-facing plot below the house to plant vines. Today that plot covers 1.5ha.

They’ve never used chemical products on their land. Organic viticulture is still relatively rare in Condrieu, ‘but it didn’t scare us,’ says Isabelle, as it was something they already understood.

By 2008, family life and a heavy workload was becoming too much to manage; they had to decide between vegetables and vines. Thankfully they chose the latter.

Henri fell ill soon after, however, and Isabelle found herself in charge of the vineyard and cellar. She was in her 50s and she didn’t know how to make wine – she didn’t even drink the stuff.

‘I learnt by making mistakes,’ she says. It wasn’t until the 2014 vintage that she felt satisfied with her work.

Since then, they’ve acquired two small parcels of Côte-Rôtie in lieu-dit Coteau de Tupin. They’ve also taken on some IGP Syrah and Viognier and bought some Saint-Joseph, but that’s yet to be planted.

The organic struggle

Grasshoppers and butterflies sprang from the grassy verges as we strolled through the vineyards.

‘The number one point is to have a living soil,’ said Henri. ‘And varied vegetation,’ added Isabelle.

The hillside opposite is still densely wooded, home to cat-like genets and eagle owls. If you let your eyes follow the valley, you can spy the Rhône, but this is a sheltered, secluded part of Condrieu.

The main difficulty in being organic here is controlling the grass without spraying herbicide on the ground. But ‘for the vines to be happy, I must be happy,’ says Isabelle, ‘and I can’t be happy working in a lunar landscape.’

Mechanisation is impossible on steep, terraced vineyards and there isn’t enough room for horses to turn. So Henri resorted to designing and building an all-terrain lawnmower on caterpillar tracks to get between the rows.

They interfere as little as possible with the vines and use preventative treatments. Having contemplated biodynamic viticulture, in the end they decided it wasn’t for them. They say their soils are healthy already and ‘if it’s not necessary to intervene, it’s not useful,’ says Isabelle, even with biodynamic teas.

‘There’s no point in doing it just to do it,’ she says.

The next generation at Clos de la Bonnette

Today the estate covers just 6ha, but they’re not looking to expand – it’s hard enough work already.

The jewel in the family’s estate is their Condrieu vineyard and the style is fresh and vibrant without recourse to new oak. Isabelle makes the white wines and Antoine, now 25, has been making the reds since 2016. He favours a slender, precise, lightly-extracted style of Syrah.

The quality of the 2020 Condrieu Légende Bonnetta proves that the incredible 2019 wasn’t just a fluke.

Could we be witnessing the birth of a great estate? If this kind of quality can be sustained, it just might be.

Tasting notes and scores for eight Clos de la Bonnette wines:

Wines in order of style and score

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