gigondas

Domaine du Gour de Chaule Gigondas 2015

Given how long and extensively we have worked with the Rhone, and the southern Rhone in particular, it’s a little surprising that this is only our second go around with this stylish Gigondas estate. Our first foray, the 2010 Gour de Chaule Gigondas was a huge hit and lot of boxes disappeared from the old location. This is actually the first volley in the newer spot, and the price is a little bit more than it was five years ago (that’s to be expected), but we are big fans of what this estate is doing.

The fact sheet reads something like this, with deference to the importer’s extensive and accessible information. The Domaine du Gour de Chaulé, situated in the heart of the village of Gigondas, was founded in 1900 by Eugene Bonfils, the great-grandfather of the current proprietor, Stephanie Fumoso. All the wine produced at the estate was sold in bulk to negociants until 1970 when Madame Rolande Beaumet, Eugene’s daughter and the grandmother of the current owner, Stéphanie, began to bottle a small percentage of the estate’s wine for sale to private clients.

Madame Beaumet’s daughter, Aline Bonfils, took the reins of the domaine in the early 1980s and it was she that broadened the tradition of estate bottling significantly. Stephanie was at the helm when we flipped over that 2010, and we were immediately captivated by a wine that, while it had all of the moxie one would expect from a Gigondas, it also had a polished presence that was considerably less ‘rough and tumble’ than most of the other ‘local produce’.

Were going to go out on a limb and suggests that a woman’s touch is clearly evident here (are we allowed to say that any more?) as the wine has the size and substance to stand among most Gigondas, but without the gritty tannins that are so often a part of wines from this appellation. Dark berries, stony minerality, pepper, and garrigue here, typicite is not an issue but this is a more white tablecloth version of the genre.

This Grenache based cuvee comes from three separate plots with the average vine age approaching age 60. Yields are most and the grapes are hand harvested, never destemmed, and sees no new oak. The wine is put into large foudres for 18 months before it is bottled unfiltered and unfined. Bottom line, this is a classy example from an often rustic area.

This is still kind of an under-the-radar property in the broad market, but the media is starring to take notice. Wine Advocate’s Joe Czerwinski had this to say, “Still in foudres and concrete, the 2015 Gigondas Cuvee Tradition is incredibly creamy, ripe and fresh. This full-bodied wine is bursting with ripe Grenache fruit, while the finish displays plush tannins. It’s not hugely complex—or maybe the fruit is just covering some of that complexity right now—but it sure is delicious…90-92 points.” He got the delicious part right, but that review was posted in Oct., 2017, which means it was tasted well before that. A lot can change in a year and a half (or more).

Even more upbeat was the prose from Josh Raynolds of Vinous, “Brilliant ruby. A heady bouquet evokes ripe red and blue fruits, Indian spices and smoky minerals, along with a hint of candied lavender in the background. Deeply concentrated yet energetic black raspberry, boysenberry and spicecake flavors unfold slowly, picking up a licorice quality that expands on the back half. Shows excellent clarity and mineral cut on a sweet, seamless finish shaped by smooth tannins…92-94 points.”

We know a lot of folks out there aren’t necessarily convinced by ‘barrel scores’. We tasted the Domaine du Gour de Chaule Gigondas 2015 out of the bottle. It’s delicious, complex and all we can say is ‘you go, girl’.

DOMAINE LA ROUBINE: ANOTHER RHONE ‘SLEEPER’

The southern Rhone is home to a number of small estates that do great work in relative obscurity. We have made it our mission to look into as many as we can and that process has turned up a few hidden gems. While we can tell stories about a number of domains that we have been working with for a long time, or discovered before they became famous, La Roubine isn’t one of them. In fact we didn’t first see this house until the 2010 vintage. We bought some Gigondas from that vintage based not on press, or fame, but because it was simply a delicious, soulful bottle of wine. Crazy, huh?

Even though we have a small cache of that wine probably thanks to the media-centric world we live in (it did get a rather low-key 91 from Spectator in a vintage full of 95s), we are still going to sing the praise of this stylish small domaine. The domaine itself isn’t all that old in a place where some families can trace their roots back centuries. It was only 1990 when Eric Ughetto took over the family vineyards located in Gigondas.

he was joined by Sophie in the late 90s and the two of them decided to make wine with their own grapes. They defined the estate “La Roubine” in 2000 with the first bottled vintage of Gigondas. Today the company is still a family run business. Eric works at the wine cellar, while Sophie manages both the cellar and the business. They both do vineyard work. Though the estate has expanded via inheritance, purchase, and lease (which the couple farms), it is still relatively small with 15.5 hectares of vines (38 acres) spread over four appellations.

They bring it ‘new school’, which these days is actually ‘old school’. They use no chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers, are agriculture biologique (organic) certified, and, because of their modest size, can wait on harvesting individual parcels until they are optimally ripe. The harvests are by hand, as is the first and second sorting, only natural yeasts are employed, fermentations takes place in concrete, and everything is bottled unfined and unfiltered. These are reds that speak of their origins, but also provide plenty hedonistic pleasure via their open, round, ripe, tender fruit.

Our focus today is on Eric’s sub-$20 duo, Sablet and Seguret, both appellations located in the higher ground near the base of the Dentelles de Montmirail. Both areas have enjoyed status as an appellated Cotes du Rhone Villages for over 40 years. Their higher-ground locales provide cooler nights that allow the wines to retain a certain freshness, but there is plenty of charisma to these efforts.

The Domaine La Roubine Cotes du Rhone Villages Sablet 2015 comes from 30-year-old vines, this particular assemblage being 70% Grenache, 25% Syrah, and 5% Cinsault. Plush kirsch and blackcurrant fruit is the center of attention, with underpinnings of spice and a subtle streak of stony minerality. There are also some savory elements as the grapes are not destemmed. The acids are tame in this vintage and the tannins are ripe, the wine itself layered and tasty, and very true to the region.

Domaine La Roubine Cotes du Rhone Villages Seguret 2015 has a somewhat cooler edge, no doubt thanks to the 30% Mourvedre (the rest is Grenache). The kirsch tones here are front and center with the Mourvedre providing pepper, garrigue and some earthy cocoa that add dimension. A little closer to the vest than the Sablet but there is plenty to like here too.

Some of you might wonder if we have any convincing scores that validate these wines. In truth, we don’t. La Roubine doesn’t get a lot of media attention in the first place, and what it does receive is on the Gigondas and Vacqueyras, not these. That’s OK as these punch well above their weight class, delivering pretty serious yet engaging wine for rather modest fares. We have been impressed the few times we have had Eric Ughetto’s wines. Numbers are all well and good, but delicious matters, too. You can’t brag about a producer most folks have never heard of from somewhat obscure appellations. But you can sure enjoy the heck out of them, and that’s what matters most. We even have a few bottles left of that 2010 La Roubine Gigondas if you want to see where these are headed or drink a mature bottle.

BEST CAYRON IN A LONG TIME

When we first got into Rhones in a big way back in the early 90s, Domaine Cayron was certainly one of, if not the ‘standard’ in the appellation. Always very big, bold and expressive, the wines were loaded with blackberry and black cherry fruit that could best be described as a walk on the wild side. Lots of well infused gravel, anise, roasted herb or dark chocolate nuance could pop up in any version, but they did all share a certain jump-out-of-the-glass fruit component. They also, in those early days, sported a fair bit of chewy tannin, as did most Gigondas.

For many years Cayron was marketed by Kermit Lynch. Not sure if his leaving the Kermit portfolio, or a bit of a slump in his winemaking was the cause, but Michel Faraud’s wine kind of dropped out of sight for a while. The current purveyor referred to this estate, founded in 1840, as the ‘benchmark producer in the region’. Not sure if we buy into that entirely. Domaine des Bosquets and Saint Damien have been doing some outstanding work and there are a number of rising stars in the region as well. But with this particular vintage, Cayron is definitely deserving of the limelight again.

The 2015 Domaine du Cayron Gigondas has collected a nice range of reviews including ‘over 90’ barrel scores from Wine Advocate, Jeb Dunnuck and Vinous Media and we can see why. That bouncy, gregarious, in-your-face herb-laced fruit component is back with a vengeance. While everybody’s enthusiasm is clear, the writers’ descriptors have quite a range from plum to boysenberry. We’ll borrow the prose from Vinous’ Josh Raynolds as a reference, “Dark ruby. Potent mineral-and-smoke-accented cherry, boysenberry and garrigue scents pick up a sexy incense nuance as the wine opens up. Sweet, seamless and penetrating on the palate, offering intense red and blue fruit, spicecake and lavender pastille flavors and a hint of smoked meat. Concentrated yet light on its feet, playing power off finesse with a smooth hand and finishing impressively long, sweet and youthfully tannic…”

While he commented on the wine’s ‘youthfulness’, we would point out that this tasting note was based on a barrel sample from a region not exactly famous for its polish. Michel Faraud’s three daughters are at the helm now, under his watchful eye of course. However we sense a little more seamlessness to the back half of this wine and a less rough-and-tumble demeanor.

All of that put together makes for the best Cayron in some time. They do all the right things here…hand harvesting, indigenous yeasts, and bottling unfiltered and unfined. As you would expect, Grenache is the workhorse here (78%) with the balance from the ‘usual suspects’ (14% Syrah, 6% Cinsault, 2% Mourvèdre), all finished in large older barrels.

Is Cayron back or is this outstanding, mouth-filling red just the result of a sensational vintage? Can’t answer that just yet, but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying this one for what it is…big, bold, and delicious.