Creation Vinium

Ardèche Chardonnay

  • RegionArdèche - Coteaux de l'Ardèche
  • VillageArdèche
  • AppellationIndication Géographique Protégée Ardèche
  • Grape varietyChardonnay
The Vine
  • Average vine age 25 years
  • SoilClay and limestone.
  • Average yield45 hl/ha
  • HarvestMechanical
Wine tips
  • Cellaring Potential2-3 years
  • Serving temperature 10 - 12°C
Description
  • Maison Louis Latour is one of the most innovative producers in Burgundy, whilst maintaining its traditional image with a view to expanding the business. In1979, the valley of the Ardèche river with its clay and limestone-based soils was chosen as the ideal location to produce a top-quality Chardonnay wine. The Chardonnay d'Ardèche is aged in stainless steel vats for approximately 10 months. It is a fresh and easy to drink wine.
Vinification & Ageing
  • Fermentation
    Traditional in stainless steel vats, temperature controlled with complete malolactic fermentation
  • Ageing
    8 to 10 months ageing in stainless steel vats
Wine tasting
  • Tasting Note
    Golden yellow with green highlights, offering an aromatic bouquet of white flowers. Powerful and rounded with good length. Tasted December 2010. Tasted November 2010.
  • Food Pairing
    Aperitif - charcuterie - fish.
Press review
  • Chardonnay d'Ardèche 2008 - Food & Wine Magazine - September 2011 - "Lively Chardonnay"


Press review
    • Ardèche Chardonnay 2020 - The Guardian (UK) - "Consistently good-value"

      Consistently good-value, unoaked, fresh but stone-fruit fleshy bottling from Burgundy producer Louis Latour's Ardèche outpost.  ("Brilliant white wines made from versatile and elegant chardonnay", David Williams, October 2023)


    • Ardèche Chardonnay 2014 - Sunday Times - "A revelation"

      This wine from the Rhône Valley is a revelation. Soft and gentle, you should smell apple and a trace of honey. The smooth finish has the texture of butter. (By Will Lyons, UK)

    • Ardèche Chardonnay 2014 - Manchester News - "Burgundian qualities"

      This is a great example of a wine that exhibits Burgundian qualities despite its grapes being grown further to the south near the Rhone. The vineyards are situated at altitude and the poor soils are predominantly clay-limestone. That makes for a wine that is as lean and mineral as Chablis. In fact, its unoaked, crisp fruit seems to have more in common with a Petit Chablis. (By Andy Cronshaw, UK)

    • Ardèche Chardonnay 2014 - Decanter Online - July 2015 - 88/100

      Fresh, muted yet subtle aromas, with elegant, poised flavours, perfectly weighted in the mouth and leaving it fresh and clean: a benchmark varietal with real class. By Andrew Jefford (UK)

    • Ardèche Chardonnay 2013 - The Sunday Business Post - February 2015 - 88/100
    • Ardèche Chardonnay 2013 - Matching Food & Wine - June 2014 - My Best Buys

      This is a really pukka Burgundian-style chardonnay in a posh bottle that looks - and tastes - as if you've paid a great deal more for it. Pair with rich seafood like scallops and crab. By Fiona Beckett (UK)

    • Ardèche Chardonnay 2013 - Western Morning News - August 2014 - Wine of the Week

      The coolly dressed retro style bottle puts you in mind of expensive burgundy...but this is from further south in France...It's very much a chardonnay, with peachy ripe fruit and tangy acidity, but made without oak contact and quite distinct from the burgundy style in its direct minerality and vigour. Lovely distinctive wine at a keen price. By Ned Halley (UK).

    • Ardèche Chardonnay 2012 - Manchester Confidential - April 2016 - The pick of the list

      From the great Burgundian firm's west of the Rhone holdings, this has long been one of the perfect introductions to the French way with the grape. It is aged in stainless steel vats, retaining freshness. Its pale green hue belies its roundness on the palate, a distinct almondiness on the notes giving way to restrained peach fruit. Perfect fish wine. (UK)

    • Chardonnay Ardeche IGP 2011 - Under the grape tree - November 2013 - "Very Good"Clean, crisp Chardonnay, aged in tank, and showing some bright lemon, tangerine and apple notes.
    • Chardonnay d'Ardèche 2011 - The Globe and Mail - May 2013 - 87/100Medium-bodied and crisp, the Ardèche chardonnay comes not from Latour's home base of Burgundy but from a district 350 kilometres to the south. It shows a restrained Burgundian style, though, and at the price it represents good value. Subtle pineapple harmonizes with toasty oak and vanilla, backed by fresh acidity. (By Beppi Crosariol - Canada)
    • Chardonnay d'Ardèche 2010 - The Guernsey Press and Star - January 2013 - "Lovely fruit purity"From the rocky Ardeche region of France, this has notes of toast and minerals, with clean, fresh, lemon fruit and butter character on the palate. There's no oak, so it retains its lovely fruit purity. An excellent choice with simple fish dishes and poultry. (UK)
    • Chardonnay d'Ardèche 2008 - Food & Wine Magazine - September 2011 - "Lively Chardonnay"This lime-accented, lively Chardonnay comes from the Ardèche region, in southeastern France. (USA)
    • 2006 Chardonnay de l'Ardèche - Vancouver 24 Hours - C. Waters - Canada - August 30th 2009This unoaked Chardonnay from famed Burgundy producer Louis Latour expresses a mineral-rich nose with some white floral and citrus notes. The palate is sweeter and simpler (lots of buttery and citrus notes) than the nose suggests. It's a good basic Chardonnay that offers decent value for the price.
    • 2006 Chardonnay de l'Ardèche - Gismondi Wine - Canada - July 23rd 2009 - 87/100:Grassy, butter, dried herb, mineral, pear skin aromas. Dry, crisp, slightly austere palate with mineral, lime, apple skin, pear, butter, herbal flavours. Good solid food wine if a bit austere on the finish. Solid value.
      Score: 87/100
    • 2006 Ardèche Chardonnay - St. Petersbrug Times - USA - June 29th 2009:This delightful wine opens with a barely floral aroma that smells of a cool mountain meadow on a sunny day. At first sip the flint is evident in a mouth-filling, beautifully rounded taste layered with hints of dried apricot and green tea. It is eminently refreshing, revealing a delicacy that will be a revelation to California chardonnay drinkers who have come to expect their palates to be overwhelmed by aggressive oak and vanilla. There is no oak at all in this steel-tank-fermented wine, which underpins its austere pleasures with the heft lent it by malolactic fermentation. The Ardèche finishes long and smooth, leaving its intimations of spring lingering on the tongue. This wine is just right for drinking on its own, as a palate-energizing aperitif or later in the evening, as the day winds down. When pairing it with food, bring out your best summer recipes, maybe starting with a velvety chilled vichyssoise followed by lime-marinated grilled shrimp and a minty tabbouleh salad.
    • 2006 Chardonnay de l'Ardèche- Wine Advocate- December 31st 2008- 85 points:Pleasant ripe apple and melon nose with oatmeal and butter nuances. The palate is well balanced with a medium body of fairly concentrated stone fruit flavors supported by medium to high acidity. Medium+ finish. Drink now. Tasted September 2008.
    • 2006 Chardonnay de l'Ardèche - Rick Van Sickle - Traveling Golfer - Canada - June 2006:Louis Latour is one of the most famous value producers from France and this baby chard shows a lot of wine for the price. A floral nose with pear and spice notes. A well-crafted wine at this price with creamy, apple-pear and vanilla notes.
    • Chardonnay d'Ardèche 2005 - The Beaumont Enterprise - November 15th 2008 - "Light and silky smooth"Light and silky smooth, pear and green apple notes; no oak, for those who don't care for oaky chardonnays.
    • Chardonnay d'Ardèche 2005 - Jancis Robertson - January 2007 - 15/20 Crisp and clean. Very fresh and lively. Drink 2006-07.
    • 2004 Chardonnay d'Ardèche - Coup de Cœur Guide Hachette des Vins 2006 :The famous Burgundian Maison Louis Latour has received the most supreme award for its Ardèche Chardonnay. With a golden yellow colour and a light hint of green, this vintage dazzles the taster with its complex aromas of honey and exotic fruits. Powerful and oily, it will go well with turbot wrapped in puff pastry. The Grand Ardèche Blanc 2003 received 2 stars. It is light and elegant. This wine with subtle notes of spices (vanilla) would go perfectly with a roasted pheasant.
    • 2002 Chardonnay d'Ardèche - Wimbledon Time and Leisure - September 2004 :The Ardèche Louis Latour 2002 Chardonnay is an old favourite of mine and showed clear golden colour, good clean exotic fruits, nicely balanced acidity, with vanilla spice imparted by the oak. A powerful and elegant wine, made from carefully-selected fully-ripened grapes.
    • 1996 Ardeche Chardonnay - Davy's Wine Club - Summer 1998 :Since introducing the Chardonnay grape te the Ardeche region, south of Lyon, in 1979 (almost 20 years ago), Louis Latour has successfully combined tradition with modern technology to produce this wine, wich is considered today to be one of the finest Chardonnays from the South of France. Low yields, healthy fruit and température-controlled fermentation ensure a delicious Chardonnay with a rich, complex bouquet and full-bodied flavour, culminating in a long, lingering finish.
    • Chardonnay de l'Ardèche - Revue de Vin de FranceA wine perfectly made, just like the Grand Ardèche, full bodied, and elegant with great length. This remarkable bottle surpasses its classification of vin de cépage.
    • Chardonnay de l'Ardèche - Hugh Johnson - Modern Encyclopedia of Wine :(Maison Latour) has introduced a Chardonnay Vin de Pays d'Ardèche which is remarkable in character and volume.
    • Chardonnay de l'Ardèche - Tom Stevenson - The New Sotheby's Wine EncyclopediaThe lovely unoaked Chardonnay fruit shows up most Mâcon-Villages AOC wines.
    • Chardonnay de l'Ardèche - Robert Parker - The Wine AdvocateRated as a "Best Buy" three years in a row by the Wine Advocate.
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