Cool development over some 5 hours or so (not in a decanter). Funk and prunes on the nose at open, but within 15 minutes in glass, totally blew off and revealed really nice black cherry and blackberry and spice. Long and smooth finish from 15-45 minutes or so, then the grip emerged with the fruit. Chewy and really long for a good hour, then the grip was mostly gone again, but the fruit was fantastic throughout. Medium+ body, lots of acid - a real delight.
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Sweet and sour Cranberry. Fine and mouth puckering tannin. A bit of alcohol / residual heat. All in a bit of balance. Fine mouthfeel. Perhaps a table wine in its youth? But elevated table wine today! 91-92.
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Brookie and I drank this without decanting right out of the chute! First, I love Gigondas, and Southern Rhone wines in general. I drink a lot of Southern Rhone, and Gigondas in particular. I have flown to France, driven to Gigondas, and drank wine until I could not see straight. I love Gigondas wine and you should too. We drank this bottle with spicy Indian food. Great pairing. The bottle is showing it's age, but is in a good place. Soft, alcohol a little pronounced, elegant. I wish I could have had a bottle at a younger age, and plan to buy some recent vintages. What I learned from this bottle is that a good bottle can go ten years no problem. That is not a small fact when you consider that a shrewd Gigondas connoisseur can pick up a nice bottle for $20-$25.
This is a very nice Gigondas, drinking well 11 years on, balanced, classy, enjoyable. You should buy a case of the next decent vintage and drink a couple of bottles a year. This is a Gigondas that is not well known outside of France, but consistently merits scores in the low to mid 90's, for what it's worth. I drink a lot of Gigondas, and in my super-informed opinion, this is a good bottle. So saith I.
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i really enjoyed this big, rustic gigondas. dark purple color with medium+ viscosity. blackberry, herbs, grilled meat and orange tea on the nose, which is just great. full-bodied with sturdy tannins and medium- acidity. this wine shows spice, cherry liquer, grilled meat, rasberry and leather. tons of dense fruit, but all those rustic rhone flavors and mashed right into the fruit. this got better with air and would do well from several years of bottle age.
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6/4/2022 - centropomus Likes this wine: 92 Points
Better than the last bottle - similar developments over a few hours but seemed to start fresher than I remember from the last one.
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2/14/2021 - centropomus Likes this wine: 91 Points
Cool development over some 5 hours or so (not in a decanter). Funk and prunes on the nose at open, but within 15 minutes in glass, totally blew off and revealed really nice black cherry and blackberry and spice. Long and smooth finish from 15-45 minutes or so, then the grip emerged with the fruit. Chewy and really long for a good hour, then the grip was mostly gone again, but the fruit was fantastic throughout. Medium+ body, lots of acid - a real delight.
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11/22/2018 - SARED wrote: 91 Points
Sweet and sour Cranberry. Fine and mouth puckering tannin. A bit of alcohol / residual heat. All in a bit of balance. Fine mouthfeel. Perhaps a table wine in its youth? But elevated table wine today! 91-92.
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1/4/2017 - Magnum PI Likes this wine: 92 Points
Brookie and I drank this without decanting right out of the chute! First, I love Gigondas, and Southern Rhone wines in general. I drink a lot of Southern Rhone, and Gigondas in particular. I have flown to France, driven to Gigondas, and drank wine until I could not see straight. I love Gigondas wine and you should too. We drank this bottle with spicy Indian food. Great pairing. The bottle is showing it's age, but is in a good place. Soft, alcohol a little pronounced, elegant. I wish I could have had a bottle at a younger age, and plan to buy some recent vintages. What I learned from this bottle is that a good bottle can go ten years no problem. That is not a small fact when you consider that a shrewd Gigondas connoisseur can pick up a nice bottle for $20-$25.
This is a very nice Gigondas, drinking well 11 years on, balanced, classy, enjoyable. You should buy a case of the next decent vintage and drink a couple of bottles a year. This is a Gigondas that is not well known outside of France, but consistently merits scores in the low to mid 90's, for what it's worth. I drink a lot of Gigondas, and in my super-informed opinion, this is a good bottle. So saith I.
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5/18/2012 - spo wrote: 90 Points
Up front stemmy, funky and earthy with strawberry, raspberry and pepper. Perfumey and exotic.
This comes close to reminding me of malbec from Loire/Cahors. I usually don't enjoy grenache or southern Rhone but was suprised how much I liked this.
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11/25/2008 - jim dixon wrote: 89 Points
Better on the second day. Agree with winerookie's note. Will let my other bottles age a bit.
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3/2/2008 - isaacjamesbaker wrote: 89 Points
i really enjoyed this big, rustic gigondas. dark purple color with medium+ viscosity. blackberry, herbs, grilled meat and orange tea on the nose, which is just great. full-bodied with sturdy tannins and medium- acidity. this wine shows spice, cherry liquer, grilled meat, rasberry and leather. tons of dense fruit, but all those rustic rhone flavors and mashed right into the fruit. this got better with air and would do well from several years of bottle age.
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