Les Vins de Vienne - Saint-Péray Lieu-dit Les Faures blanc 2020

To revive the Seyssuel vineyards located upstream from Vienne, three renowned winemakers—Yves Cuilleron, Pierre Gaillard, and François Villard—founded this company in 1996. It produces fine IGP estate wines in Seyssuel, single-vineyard selections from northern AOCs, and merchant wines from throughout the valley.

The trio of Villard, Cuilleron, and Gaillard began the Vins de Vienne venture in the late 1990s. Initially, the goal was to breathe new life into the superb, long-forgotten terroirs of Seyssuel, one of the Rhône Valley’s earliest vineyards: of the 16 hectares of vineyards, 11 were planted there between 1996 and 2001. Over the years, the range has expanded through the purchase of grapes. While the wines from the Seyssuel terroirs remain admirable and define the estate, we find the other cuvées less convincing, leading us to remove the estate’s star this year.