Gigondas Red Rhone Blend

Meat, honey, tamari, licorice and fresh black fruits. Sweet and soulful. And microbial on day 2.

We have enjoyed a lot of Gigondas lately but this may be a favorite.

Bright ruby-red. Lively and focused on the nose, displaying ripe red fruit, lavender and peppery spice aromas. Supple and open-knit, offering concentrated, appealingly sweet raspberry and candied licorice flavors that become livelier as the wine opens up. Finishes impressively long, smooth and juicy, with resonating licorice and red fruit notes and just a hint of fine-grained tannins. (Josh Raynolds, Vinous, February 2020)

Popped and poured; consumed over two days. Day 1 this was precocious. The nose was wild with the smell of tandoori chicken (tell me I’m wrong!), brambles, and garrigue. Like the 2015 I had a few weeks back, this was a little out of sorts on the palate but there’s loads of undeniably deliciously pure fruit. Tongue smacking tannin. Day 2 showed very little in the way of evolution. The tandoori had relaxed and left a more generic spiced meat character in its wake with brambles and Herbs de Provence. Looooooooong finish; well over a minute. The tannin is even more pronounced today but there’s so much stuffing that it kinda works now and I’m certain it will be firing on all cylinders and everything is more integrated down the road. IMHO, this is performing just a step behind the 2015 at the moment but both vintages are outstanding and will be for many years to come.

Deep purple hue. Medium-plus tearing. Smoked meat, black cassis, ripe plum, candied blackberries, molasses, bay leaf, wet stone, potting soil, and baking spices on the nose. On the palate, strong acidity, spice, and tannins open up to juicy black fruit, dark chocolate, and espresso notes. Lovely southern Rhône, Grenache-based blend with strong complexity. Long finish. 15% ABV. Vintage 2016. #chateaudesaintcosme #gigondas #southernrhonewines #encoresilvousplaît

Second bottle as flawed as the first. Ok on day 1. Mouse on day 2.

Normally don’t include corked bottles for review since it’s usually not the fault of the producer but after opening 3x 2016 and finding them all corked can’t help but think it’s a sanitation issue on the part of the producer.

Well-made. We don’t go in much for this style these days—our first gigondas in three years. Tertiary aromas beginning to show, lovely mid-palate. Finish is a blast of heat from furnace. Overall, nicely done but lacking tension. Fascinating to revisit favorites from the past…

Garrigue herbs. Strawberry and blackberry with liquorice notes. Fine tannins. Excellent

Crimson in color, nose of blackberries, leather, and a touch of smoke. Medium to full bodied. Well integrated tannins a just the right amount of acidity. My only issue is this is my last bottle!!! Outstanding.