Saint-Peray
Controlled appellation
Ongrie
Renamed Ongrie for the 2015 vintage, this wine first created in 1984 was initially called Cuvée Boisée and then Terres Boisées, referring to winemaking and maturation in barrels on lees, for which Alain Voge was the pioneer in Saint-Péray, thirty years ago. At that time, the majority of Saint-Péray’s production was made according to the traditional method and winemaking was done in vats. Prior to the French Revolution, Ongrie was written without an H. The origin of this name is linked to a tannery activity established at this site in medieval times, reputed for its special processing of leathers using ointments (from the Latin word “ungere”, meaning to oil or to grease).
The entire domain is cultivated using organic and biodynamic viticulture.
TERROIR
The vines, approximately fifty years old, are planted on very old alluvium of the Rhône enriched with granite colluvium. The presence in the soil of limestone and clay elements explains the minerality and particular freshness of this wine.
2020 VINTAGE
Healthy and easy sanitary season for the vineyard. Not the same for the winemakers and vine growers that went through the sanitary measures of covid with a lot of availability…Furthermore, the main word of 2020 vintage was “early”: budburst, flowering, ripening and harvest… started on August 20th for the first Marsannes of Saint-Péray, and finished on September 15 on the atop plots of Cornas.Well-balanced juices in Saint-Péray, without too much alcohol, after very dynamic fermentations of our natural yeasts. In Cornas, a well-balances vintage too, fruity but with ripe tannins, spicy sometimes and full-bodied, full of promises…
OUR VINE GROWING AND WINEMAKING
• Organic certification for the vines and wine in the 2009 vintage and biodynamic methods used.
• Marsanne vines trained and pruned in the Gobelet style and supported by stakes.
• Hand-picked harvests.
• Winemaking using traditional yeasts, exclusively in 228-litre and 400-litre oak barrels, with 20% new oak.
• Maturation on fine lees for 13 months.
• Amount of sulphite reduced: 65 mg/l total SO2 (150 mg/litre authorised in organic winemaking).
• Production: 5.436 bottles / 120 half bottles
• Ageing potential: 5/7 years.
THE ATMOSPHERE…
The dish:
Tureen of curry-flavoured poultry dumplings.
The chef:
Pierre Orsi, at the “Cazenove” restaurant, Lyon 6e.
… COMMENTS
2020 Vintage: “Honeyed white peach, orange blossom, brioche, violets, and white truffle are all present in the 2020 Saint-Péray Ongrie, a layered, medium-bodied, incredibly complex and compelling Saint-Péray. It picks up more depth and richness with air and has an almost red wine-like sense of structure on the palate. It needs a year or two of bottle age to come together, but this is a gorgeous Saint-Péray well worth seeking out”
Jeb Dunnuck (15/12/2022): 94/100
