Chateau de Saint Cosme Cotes du Rhone Les Deux Albion 2017
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Les Deux Albions is one of the outstanding wines of Louis Barruol’s collection and highlights the exceptional value that can still be found in the Côtes-du-Rhône category. The wine combines depth, structure, and finesse with aromas and flavors of roasted game, mesquite, and olive, crushed plum, and black currants.
Syrah, with its deep flavors and firm tannins, is a natural match for grilled or smoked meat and dishes featuring herbs, roasted mushrooms, and onions. Seared venison or beef with black pepper and thyme or a Moroccan tagine of pigeon or chicken are complimented by the spicy characteristic of Syrah.
Blend: 50% Syrah, 20% Grenache, 15% Carignan, 10% Mourvedre, 5% Clairette
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has a very attractive, dark-stone and black-fruit nose with rich and intense blackberries and licorice and some savory, rust-like, sanguine elements. There’s clay soil and iron to dry this. The richness and depth are impressive and there’s a wealth of intense, rich and very concentrated fruit on offer. Dark plums, blue fruit and long, succulent tannins. Spicy finish. An estate-grown blend of syrah, grenache, mourvedre, carignan and clairette
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Wine Enthusiast
An elevated Côtes du Rhône, this blend of five grape varieties is sourced from the communes of Plan de Dieu, Saint Maurice and Cairanne. Packed with ripe blackberry and plum flavors it also offers elegant notes of bramble, sage and violet. Lively and perfumed, the wine is balanced by crisp acidity and very fine, smooth tannins. Lovely now it should improve through 2027.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Château de Saint Cosme Les Deux Albion Côtes du Rhône is an attractive generous and forceful wine. TASTING NOTES: This wine packs aromas and flavors of ripe, black fruit, earth, and deep forest floor notes. Pair it with a savory beef stew. (Tasted: July 27, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Compact and a bit tannic this vintage, the 2017 Cotes du Rhone les Deux Albions is a Grenache-Syrah blend. Blueberries, cherries and dried spices provide plenty of flavor in this full-bodied offering that should be at its best over the next 5-6 years.
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Wine Spectator
Lively mesquite and black tea notes give this aromatic complexity, with the core of black cherry and plum fruit taking on a nice mulled hint. Offers good juicy energy. Drink now through 2021.
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Chateau de Saint Cosme is the leading estate of Gigondas and produces the appellation’s benchmark wines. Wine has been produced on the site of Saint Cosme since Roman times, evident by the ancient Gallo-Roman vats carved into the limestone below the chateau. The property has been in the hands of Louis Barruol’s family since 1570. Henri and Claude Barruol took over in 1957 and gradually moved Saint Cosme away from the bulk wine business. Henri was one of the first in the region to work organically beginning in the 1970s. Louis Barruol took over from his father in 1992, making a dramatic shift to quality, adding a négociant arm to the business in 1997, and converting to biodynamics in 2010.
With bold fruit flavors and accents of sweet spice, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre form the base of the classic Rhône Red Blend, while Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise often come in to play. Though they originated from France’s southern Rhône Valley, with some creative interpretation, Rhône blends have also become popular in other countries. Somm Secret—Putting their own local spin on the Rhône Red Blend, those from Priorat often include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In California, it is not uncommon to see Petite Sirah make an appearance.
Typically thought of as a baby Chateâuneuf-du-Pape, the term Côtes du Rhône actually doesn’t merely apply to the flatter outskirts of the major southern Rhône appellations, it also includes the fringes of well-respected northern Rhône appellations. White wines can be produced under the appellation name, but very little is actually made.
The region offers some of the best values in France and even some first-rate and age-worthy reds. Red wine varieties include most of the Chateâuneuf-du-Pape varieties like Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsault, and Counoise, as well as Carignan. White grapes grown include Grenache blanc, Roussanne and Viognier, among others.