Winemaker Notes
Intense purple color with brilliant reflections. Nose of red cherry and blackcurrant fruits, pepper, basil, with a mineral note and lots of freshness. Gourmet, powerful and full mouthfeel with tannins fine and silky. Elegant and harmonious wine with good length at the end.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Darkly coloured. Lovely sense of freshness, florality and herbal detail. Fairly full and rounded, quite mature already. Mouthfilling, sweet ripe fruit and a long finish. Has a slight, agreeable usticity to the texture and feels authentically Gigondas. Unpolished. No destemming, aged in foudres and demi-muids.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Gigondas is terrific, with the textbook wild, feral vibe in its darker cherry, basil leaf, spring flowers, and sappy garrigue aromas and flavors. Despite its green herb edge, it’s not vegetal at all and has medium-bodied richness, a pure, vibrant, elegant mouthfeel, nicely integrated acidity, and outstanding length. This is one of those wines that will grow on you over the course of an evening, and it's going to shine on the dinner table as well. Enjoy bottles over the coming decade. The blend is the usual 78% Grenache, 14% Syrah, 6% Cinsault, and the rest Mourvèdre, from 40- to 70-year-old-vines. One quarter was destemmed, it saw 18-21 days on skins, and was mostly aged in older oak foudre but a small part in demi-muids.
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.
The Southern Rhône region of Gigondas extends northwest from the notably jagged wall of mountains called the Dentelles di Montmirail, whose highest point climbs to about 2,600 feet. The region and its wines have much in common with the neighboring Chateauneuf-du-Pape except that the vineyards of Gigondas exist at higher elevation and its soils, comprised mainly of crumbled limestone from the Dentelles, often produce a more dense and robust Grenache-based red wine.
The region has a history of fine winemaking, extending back to Roman times. But by the 20th century, Gigondas was merely lumped into the less distinct zone of Côtes du Rhône Villages. However, it was first among these satellite villages to earn its own appellation, which occurred in 1971.
Gigondas reds must be between 50 to 100% Grenache with Syrah and Mourvèdre comprising the bulk of the remainder of the blend. They tend express rustic flavors and aromas of wild blackberry, raspberry, fig, plum, as well as juniper, dried herbs, anise, smoke and river rock. The best are bold but balanced, and finish with impressively sexy and velvety tannins.
The Gigondas appellation also produces rosé but no white wines.