Producer notes- Château-Grillet is a small, 3.5-hectare (nine-acre) wine estate and also an individual appellation within the wider Condrieu region of the northern Rhône Valley. As with Condrieu, Château-Grillet specialises in the production of Viognier wines. The site was one of the very first appellations created in France (in 1936), and is one of only a small number of French appellations to hold just a single producer (the Clos de Tart Grand Cru vineyard – see below – is one example, as are other numerous Burgundian monopoles). At just 3.5 hectares (9 acres) in size, it is also one of the smallest estates in France. The winemaking history of Château-Grillet goes back to the Third Century, and the distinction of the estate and its wines can be traced throughout the ages. For example, Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais, the first wife of Napoleon I, had around 300 bottles of Château-Grillet in her wine cellar and US Minister to France (and later president) Thomas Jefferson visited the property in 1787.