Gigondas — Paroles de vignerons - Vinparleur

A good glass of... Domaine Santa Duc Gigondas Prestige des Hautes Garrigues 2010

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Six months after bottling we would like to refer to a new look at our Prestige des Hautes Garrigues and the stunning 2010 vintage.

At the first sniff, the nose is rather reserved, but it opens up quickly, evolving towards intensity and aromatic complexity. A lot of fruit and wild herbs – sweet and sour cherry, blueberry and raspberry, laurel and rosemary – attest the youth of the wine in the same way as cocoa, blond tobacco and cinnamon witness its ageing in wooden tanks for 18 months. On the palate freshness and minerality rule over volume and power, creating an elegant and feminine wine, whose powerful tannin structure though should not be underestimated. Pepper mingles with fruits, smoke with wild herbs, while dried figs and preserved lemons give length and depth to the final.

According to Robert Parker, this wine is sensational. “Its inky/purple color is accompanied by glorious aromas of creme de cassis, kirsch, blackberries and a cornucopia of roasted herb, meat and licorice smells. It possesses fabulous intensity, a multidimensional mouthfeel and a tremendously long finish that lasts 40+ seconds. This beauty should drink well for two decades.”
Harvest in Vacqueyras and Gigondas with Yves Gras of Domaine Santa Duc

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Under a grey but dry sky, Yves Gras is harvesting the last grapes of his most precocious vineyards in Gigondas and Vacqueyras. The rather international harvest team is meticulously sorting the grapes in the vineyards in a concentrated and in a jovial mood, while Yves bends over the trailer to remove the last “bad” grapes and leafs that might have fallen into the buckets. Few but juicy and savoury grapes for the 2012 vintage, by the way the first certified ORGANIC WINE of the Domaine Santa Duc, in vineyard and cellar.

The thunderstorms roaming around France towards the end of September, brought rather beneficial rain for the vineyards and grape varieties that ripen later and will be picked by mid October.
Mourvèdre comes from Mars, Syrah from Venus – the “buddy” grape varieties at Domaine Santa Duc

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel, Domaine Santa Duc

Yes it’s true: In Gigondas the Grenache dares to overshadow Syrah and Mourvèdre. But even if it seems to rule out all in the Rhone Valley, it also appreciates good company.

That’s why Mourvèdre, and to a lesser extend Syrah, occupy an important place in our vineyards, for different reasons. La Syrah, one of the few ladies amongst French grape varieties, offers certain qualities that a Grenache may appreciate: A dark, mysterious colour, aromas reaching from violet and raspberry to truffle and tobacco in old wines, and its legendary elegance that may temper the ardour of a Mediterranean Grenache.

The Mourvèdre, a grape variety we particularly appreciate, often watches the other grape varieties from a distance. More serious and discreet, he acts like a real shadow man in our wines, who controls the cuvee from the wings. Black in colour and fruit, he’s mainly loved – and feared – because of the specific structure of his tannins.

As a grape variety that ripens late, it should only be planted in specific places, to avoid the risk of unripe fruits that shall only give a rude wine. The lower, alluvial parts of Les Hautes Garrignes, as well as the higher, calcareous parts of Gigondas, both terroirs where grapes ripen lately, particularly suite to Mourvèdre. It gives straightness and calmness to our wines, as well as crispy, fresh tannins.
Domaine Santa Duc - 2010 is bottled!

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel, Domaine Santa Duc

After 14 months of ripening in tanks and barrels, all the wines from Domaine Santa Duc have been bottled between the 16^th and 20^th of April (with a lunar position favourable to fruit) and are now available in France and abroad: Our prestige wines Hautes Garrigues, Tradition and Grand Grenache from Gigondas, but also our dinner and pleasure wines, that take care of your daily well-being – Les Quatre Terres, Les Vieilles Vignes, Les Plans, as well as the white Les Fournas from Sablet, vintage 2011.

What really outlines the 2010 vintage, is the intensity of its aromas, as well as the almost perfect balance between fullness and freshness, giving elegant wines you may appreciate when they are young. Nevertheless, you should thoroughly “forget” some bottles in your cellar to let them ripen for years.

“This is a great vintage that comes close in quality to 2007 in the southern Rhône. Some producers think 2010 eclipses 2007 because of the wines’ vivid freshness and focus. […] In fact, 2010′s paradox is that I can’t remember a vintage so concentrated, powerful and rich that also has such zesty acidity…” (R Parker Wine Advocate)
Tasting of the 2010 vintage and “habemus papam” with Yves Gras in Gigondas

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Just last week, when I spontaneously passed by Domaine Santa Duc in Gigondas, Yves Gras proposed to taste some bottles from the new 2010 vintage, just bottled last week. Generally it is told that it’s difficult to taste wines shortly after bottling, but as I always mistrust those “tales” I tasted anyhow. For, even if most of the wines are a little “rebellious” after having changed their recipient (for the wine there definitely is less space in a bottle than in a tank!), you still may taste if the wines are ”set-up” well or not.
And indeed I can tell you that they are wholly set-up! I have been impressed by the 2010 vintage from the very beginning, as it easily combines power and freshness, tannins and softness.

Les 4 Terres: Cheerful and fresh like a Cotes du Rhône should be.
Gigondas Tradition showes density and balance.
Gigondas Les Hautes Garrigues: Full of black fruit, candied lemon peels and fine tannins.
Gigondas Grand Grenache 66: A bouquet of raisin, chocolate, prunes and power.

Mostly enticing to me was the drinkability of all the wines and they made me salivate (by the way a sign for very good acidity).

Some words apart on the latest release from Domaine Santa Duc, the Chateauneuf du Pape Habemus Papam. Surely different from the Gigondas wines, this wine truly expresses Chateauneuf-du-Pape-terroir and honours the appellation: Mellowness and volume from a real Grenache, together with graceful tannins of good length.
First impressions on the 2011 vintage in Gigondas

Permalink, by Domaine Santa Duc

Not really a fan of early vintage reports and classifications, I still would like to tell you some words about the grape quality of this year’s harvest at Domaine Santa Duc. Regarding bud-burst and flowering, one could say that 2011 was a precocious vintage. And though cool temperatures and sporadic rainfalls in July somehow dampened the enthusiasm of the vines, the following heat of August still predicted an early grape ripening. But experience tells, that one should be patient with “headstrong” grape varieties like Grenache, which never unfold their whole potential when they are rushed. So we decided to wait for them…

Harvest started on September 14^th, followed by 16 days of hand picking and sorting. All fermentations were done with natural yeasts and we waived destemming on our ripest grapes. Due to this game of patience, the considerable gain of grape quality enabled us to go for long term macerations – up to four weeks – alongside with delicate extraction, to build up a solid but soft tannin structure.

Today, the young wines are plenty of fruit and spices, but also show depth and continuity. Many reasons to start ageing of the wines in a quit manner.
Black pudding, Gigondas and the gateway to paradise - Santa Roc from Yves Gras and Rémy Pedreno

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

In France we sometimes speak of a day “with” or a day “without” depending on whether it has gone well or rather badly ...
On my way back home after a busy week full of work, I stop by my favourite multinational butcher, with quite a precise taste on mind. It only takes a couple of minutes to get what I want. A neat piece of black pudding, a couple of apples, a kilo of rice from the Camargue and sweet onions from the Cevennes under my arm, I get back on my bike – oh sorry, that picture sounds too perfect – so honestly, I get back into my car and drive on.

At home, all my victuals are peeled and cut into separate pots and pans and on the stove soon - the onions seasoned with a little curry - where they roast slowly ahead, bake and melt. I descend into my wine cellar, which actually is just a garage with no cars ...

I am looking for a bottle from 2009, more precisely, a Gigondas, of Yves Gras. Bottled some five months ago, I have not had time to taste the wine since it has left its vat. After several minutes of searching in different boxes and cases, I finally find what I am looking for: Santa Roc 2009 – a great vintage in southern France – a wine that results from the collaboration between Yves Gras of Santa Duc and Rémy Pedreno of Roc d’Anglade.

As soon as the cork is out, a quick sip seems unavoidable in order to get a first impression: It certainly required four winemakers hands to get so much of crispy acidity in a Grenache-dominated, full-bodied Rhone wine in 2009 ! The first aromas look rather fruity and sweet - cherry, red currants - but spices are not far away and fully express in the mouth. Supported by crunchy tannins, they fill the palate in a pleasant way with pepper, cacao and cinnamon, or even with a touch of fennel and some grounded coriander seeds ... Young and jaunty, this wine tolerates to be decanted, without really needing it.

And when a short time later the mellowness of the fried black pudding joins in, as well as the crunchiness of the rice, the fruitiness of the apples and sweet spiciness of the curry-onions, my stomach and my taste buds feel pretty sure about the fact that today rather is a day “with” than “without”...
Big is beautiful... and so is old! Our answer to wine lover’s dreams

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Just by looking at them we go into raptures : Magnum, Jeroboam, Methusalem… Big is beautiful ! And what’s more, the wines do not age and ripen in the same way in those bottles – still one of the greatest mysteries of the wine world. Mostly, they only take the most precious nectars, excellent vintages, famous origins, and we like to hide them for years in our cellars, before presenting them on special occasions

The ennobled colour of the wine, the birth of its complex bouquet and the tannins that have got soft and silky with time and patience. The first impression of the wine that reflects in the smell of the cork, the first glass you poor, the slowly revealing perfumes, the first sip rolling around your tongue, while you just HAVE to close your eyes…

Pleasure, celebration, souvenirs, a journey of taste, the expression of a vintage… we all have our special reasons to open a special bottle !

You need time, space, patience, a good cellar - at the Domaine Santa Duc we know how difficult the work of “bottle-ripening” is. That’s why we have put aside in our cellars some precious bottles over the last years – especially for you ! Vacqueyras both from the Mediterranean 06-vintage and the elegant 08-vintage, some 07 and 08 bottles of the secret terroir of Roaix, only known by insiders, Prestige des Hautes Garrigues in Magnum bottles, Gigondas in Jeroboams…

Time, passion and pleasure in bottles – available for our friends and partners at the winery on request.

Domaine Santa Duc Gigondas