97pt Gigondas Gem from St. Damien, Only $33.98!

These are classic, old school efforts that harvest ripe, are destemmed and aged all in very old foudre and concrete tanks. In great years, few wines deliver more hedonistic pleasure married to classic Provencal character. – Jeb DunnuckAnd 2015 is a great year in the southern Rhone.  Honestly, it’s an even better year for Gigondas than it was for their neighbors in Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  I’ve loved the intensity of flavor from wines in this appellation in 2015, blockbusters to be sure, but with enough verve to hand-deliver all that brilliant old-viney fruit on a silver platter.

I must confess, when we went to the big Rhone Discovery show in Avignon last year we kinda screwed up.  Our first stop was at Joel Saurel’s table and the yet-to-be-released 2015 vintage Gigondas wines from St. Damien.

Big mistake, these wines were so powerful, so rich, so compelling, the first dozen or so wines after couldn’t compare.  To those outstanding wines we are sorry, it was not fair.  But blame Joel Saurel!

After we got back we bought, and bought hard, knowing our wine-buying public and the press would flip over them, especially considering how much of these gorgeous deals we’ve sold in the past.

We have decent stocks of St. Damien’s 2015 Gigondas Louisiane. The most Burgundian wine from St. Damien (relatively speaking), it is also the sneakiest, sporting deceptive weight and power from its 70+ year-old Grenache vines. Though the other cuvees from St. Damien might be interpreted as ‘bigger’, this one is most certainly ‘finer’.

Dunnuck wrote, “The 2015 Gigondas Cuvee Louisiane comes from a site located just beside the domaine, which is a mix of clay and sandy soils. Aged all in foudre, it boasts terrific notes of framboise, spring flowers, black raspberries and orange blossom (which I normally find more in the Les Souteyrades release). This full-bodied, deep, layered 2015 has a big mid-palate, is impeccably balanced and shows the purity and finesse that’s common in the vintage. 95 points.”

And Wine Advocate’s Joe Czerwinski also chimed in with 95 points (no coincidence) writing, “My pick of the cuvées in 2015 is the 2015 Gigondas La Louisiane. From south-facing slopes of red clay and sand, this shows incredible detail in its aromas of garrigue and raspberries, then folds in richer notes of dark chocolate. This is full-bodied and velvety in feel, with just a hint of warmth on the finish. It should drink well for a decade, possibly longer.”