Gigondas

          This wine reflects all our vineyards in Gigondas. Its character is drawn from eight different places, expressed through four Rhone grape varieties, each one of them bringing its personality and complementarity, contributing to the overall picture.

LOCATION : The parcels are all entirely around Gigondas, in eight different named places, or lieux-dits, from which it gets its name.

SURFACE AREA : 7 hectares.

GEOLOGY : Sand rich in red clay and coarse gravel from the colluvial Cône de la Font des Papes at Les Hautes Garrigues, Les Carbonnières, Les Rocassières and Les Routes.
Sandy soil rich in red clay, gravel and marl from the colluvial Cône de la Font des Papes and Trignon at Santa Duc.
Soils rich in fine matter, with grey pebbles, clay and sand with an influence from the Ouvèze terrace and, to a lesser extent, from the Cône de la Font des Papes at Les Pailleroudas.
Blue Pliocene marl from the end of the Tertiary period at Goujard and Plane.
Grey marl from the Cretaceous period, rich in limestone, at le Clos Derrière Vieille.

METHOD OF CULTIVATION : Ecocert-certified organic and Demeter-certified biodynamic.

GRAPE VARIETIES : Grenache 75%, Mourvèdre 13%, Syrah 10%, Cinsault 2%.

AGE OF VINES : Average 40 years.

HARVESTING & VINIFICATION : The grapes are hand-picked into crates and sorted manually in the vineyard before a second, table sorting in the cellar.  A proportion is destemmed, the quantity being determined by the nature of the vintage and the parcel, and the grapes are fed by gravity into the vats to ensure the integrity of the berries.  Fermentation takes place in thermo-regulated stainless-steel vats for 20 to 30 days, with two long pumping over sessions daily. Punching down is decided after tasting. Pressed pneumatically. Malolactic fermentation in vat. The wines are clarified by settling over winter in the cellar. Barrel filling occurs in the spring. 

AGEING : 18 months in 36-hectoliter oak Stockinger foudres, and 8-hectoliter terracotta amphorae. Unfined and unfiltered at bottling.

PERSONALITY : Fruit driven, with fine herbaceous notes in its youth, it generally undergoes a slow evolution towards more spicy notes after several years’ cellaring.