Winemaker Notes
Beautiful ruby red color, the nose id powerful, fine and reveals notes of black fruits (blackberries, blueberries) enhanced with spicy and toasted notes. With a surprising texture, this wine is balanced with a beautiful freshness, nice tannins, a fine intensity and a very elegant aromatic persistence.
Blend: 80% Grenache, 10% Mourvedre, 10% Syrah
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Another solid négociant effort, the 2017 Gigondas Pierre Aiguille combines hints of Mexican chocolate and red raspberries in a full-bodied, silky-textured wine. It's ripe yet chewy, with attractive hints of orange zest and licorice on the long finish. It's 80% Grenache, with 10% each Mourvèdre and Syrah.
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Wine Enthusiast
Plummy cassis and black-cherry flavors are rich and rounded in this open-knit blend of 80% Grenache, 10% Mourvedre and 10% Syrah sourced from stony red-clay terraces. It’s concentrated in fruit but seductively earthen too, offering hints of dusty mineral, smoke and peppery spice. The long finish is marked by ripe, fine-tipped tannins. At peak now–2027.
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Jeb Dunnuck
This Northern Rhône powerhouse domaine has turned out a structured, age-worthy 2017 Gigondas Pierre Aiguille. Based largely on Grenache aged in French oak vats, its darker ruby color is followed by classic, old-school notes of blackberries, black cherries, ground herbs, and earthy aromas and flavors. With medium-bodied richness and depth, building tannins, and a solid frame, it needs 2-3 years of bottle age and will keep for upwards of a decade.
Rating: 90+
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.