Winemaker Notes
The Grenache is turned up to 90% for this high-altitude cuvée. The vines (averaging only fifty years) are planted on terraces that nestle against the imposing limestone cliffs of Les Dentelles de Montmirail. For those of you who just can’t wait, open the Terrasse du Diable a good two or three hours before serving. Notes of black olive and licorice, mint, eucalyptus, and rosemary will fill the room once uncorked.
Blend: 90% Grenache, 5% Mourvèdre, 5% Clairette
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Also not yet bottled, the 2017 Gigondas Terrasses Du Diable is rocking stuff and has a mouthwatering sense of salinity and minerality as well as the classic kirsch, garrigue, and peppery aromas this cuvée always possesses. Medium to full-bodied, balanced, and nicely concentrated, with ripe tannins, it's going to keep for 15 years or more.
Rating: 92-94(+)
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James Suckling
Lots of violets and blue fruit with cinnamon and dark stony aromas. Baking spices, too. On the palate, there’s black fruit and an attractive, bitter-herb kick, with very dense tannins and a powerful, compressed feel. Lithe, juicy blue-fruit finish. Very focused, dense and long.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From a cool site at 300-400 meters above sea level, the 2017 Gigondas Terrasse du Diable is a blend of 85% Grenache and 15% Mourvèdre. It boasts knockout aromas of violets, garrigue and purple raspberries, with an undercurrent of black cherries. It's full-bodied and concentrated, with bright, crunchy acids. The overall impression is of a wine with sharper edges than the harmonious 2016 or 2018. Cellar it a couple of years and then enjoy it over the following decade.
Rating: 91-93
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Wine Spectator
Singed cedar and dried garrigue notes frame a core of gently mulled plum and blackberry fruit, with a sanguine accent curling around the finish. Grenache, Mourvèdre and Clairette. Drink now through 2027.
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.