Domaine Gayda Viognier 2010
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Domaine Gayda was built in 1749 as a Staging Post for travelers where horses were refreshed and changed. The farm buildings have since been converted into luxury accommodation. On the site of the famous "arbre de Moscou", earlier destroyed by a lightning bolt, the new winery incorporates the Restaurant and Boutique surrounded by the vineyards and overlooking the magnificent Pyrenees.
Domaine Gayda’s Organic Vineyards, situated in the heart of the Languedoc, produce wines with “provenance”, wines with a home. All the vineyards are treated with maximum respect for the natural environment, improving biodiversity by hedge planting and “wilding” unused land, bringing back a balanced ecosystem essential for sustainable production.
Using the beautiful diversity of the many vineyard “terroir,” the range of wines show off the very best of Gayda’s winemaking skills using the “nothing added, nothing taken away“ philosophy that minimizes unnecessary intervention in this process.
A small passionate team focused on quality, achieving goals that are set high enough to challenge us in all we do.
Full-figured and charmingly floral, Viognier is one of the most important white grapes of the northern Rhône where it is used both to produce single varietal wines and as an important blending grape. Look for great New World examples from California, Oregon, Washington and cooler parts of Australia. Somm Secret—Viognier plays a surprisingly important role in the red wines of Côte Rôtie in the northern Rhône. About 5% Viognier is typically co-fermented with the Syrah in order to stabilize the color, and as an added benefit, add a subtle perfume.
French wine is nearly synonymous with fine wine and all things epicurean, France has a culture of wine production and consumption that is deeply rooted in tradition. Many of the world’s most beloved grape varieties originated here, as did the concept of “terroir”—soil type, elevation, slope and mesoclimate combine to produce resulting wines that convey a sense of place. Accordingly, most French wine is labeled by geographical location, rather than grape variety. So a general understaning of which grapes correspond to which regions can be helpful in navigating all of the types of French wine. Some of the greatest wine regions in the world are here, including Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhône and Champagne, but each part of the country has its own specialties and strengths.
Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are the king and queen of Burgundy, producing elegant French red and white wines with great acidity, the finest examples of which can age for decades. The same two grapes, along with Pinot Meunier, are used to make Champagne.
Of comparable renown is Bordeaux, focused on bold, structured red blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc including sometimes a small amount of Petit Verdot or Malbec. The primary white varieties of Bordeaux are Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.
The northern Rhône Valley is responsible for single-varietal Syrah, while the south specializes in Grenache blends; Rhône's main white variety is Viognier.
Most of these grape varieties are planted throughout the country and beyond, extending their influence into other parts of Europe and New World appellations.