2007 Domaine Santa Duc Gigondas- France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Gigondas (3/10/2017)
Decanted for 2-1/2 hours before back into the btl and the frig for about another 30 minutes prior to dinner. Served around 55 degrees. Silky, but fresh and focused. A modern producer by reputation and from the overripe 2007 vintage no less but, very pleasing to my traditional leaning palate. Just as I’m in the process of swearring off most southern Rhones and especially the 07 vintage I trip into a btl I love??? No weighty, jammy, oaky, high octane aspects at all. The higher altitude may be in positive play here. Just prototypically great southern Rhone ala Vieux Don Jon. At 15% Alc it’s twice the Alc of a Moselle Kabinett but you have no sense of that here. The acidity keeps this fresh and enjoyable. Compelling; red raspberry, pepper, pine needles, meat, cedar, herbs and minerally flavors along with garrique. I’m sure this will age well but resolved and open for business right now. Got the semi undiscovered, hard to pronounce Gigondas discount at $32. Drinks well above that. 93pts + Hell, I might even buy some more Gigondas! (93 pts.)
I love their wines, but don’t think that that label is particularly any less costly than CNDPs. Vacqueryas is still maybe $10 cheaper per bottle than CNDP, but doesn’t seem to keep as long, to my tastes.
Had a great bottle of the Santa Duc luxe cuvee Gigondas on a recent ski trip, amazingly vibrant despite the age.
Oak, ripeness and more special cuvees than you can shake a stick at, if that’s your idea of a good time. Along with Saint Combes, practically the poster child for post modern Gigondas. But Cambie is not the oenologue, one must say, at least.
In general I too don’t like the special cuvees – I’d rather those vats go into the lower priced base wine to make it better, but for this estate I’ll give them a pass, since it is so good.
I expected exactly what you’re saying and got something completely different, causing me to share the unexpected positive experience of this btl. Your mileage and my mine could be different on the next we try. I’m not usually a St Cosme fan either.
You are, of course, right. I haven’t tasted the wine since it first came out and can’t know what you tasted. Even if I had, that would just mean we disagreed. But it was an oaked wine. And in my experience (which is less than massive, since I avoid buying wines on which I taste oak), oak does not disappear with age. I doubt I’ll ever find out if I’m wrong or we just disagree. This will never be a wine I seek out. I might happen upon it at a tasting, but what are the odds?
I popped and poured a bottle of the 2007 Domaine Santa Duc ‘Cuvee Tradition’ [Gigondas] and have been enjoying this husky Rhone over a couple of nights. This blend is denoted on the (unpictured) rear label; enthusiasts should note this is different from their Haut Garrigues luxe bottling. They might have more special ones now too. This was a grey market import, so the tag is vague only noting 14-16% abv, but if I remember these tend to run big/hot at 15%, and there is still just a touch of a spirity nose. The ruby/garnet wine is starting to turn color at the rims, and for my tastes, was better on day 1, so perhaps it has peaked. On the nose there is citrus zest/potpourri, then saddle with a long 45-60 second finish of plums. Acid is low, and the tannin feels mostly absorbed now. It’s a lovely example of the AOC, perhaps in the moderniste camp. On my scorecard an A-
I baked a slab of steel-head trout under a thick blanket of buttered breadcrumbs on porcelain, as I’d gotten tired of burnt/crisped fish skins stuck to my old BSR iron, and I think it worked out a little better. A wave of charred summer squash on the stove-top griddle paired well with that, although it pumped out too much waste heat into the kitchen.
Grenache with some age on it can be a nice complement to oily fatty fish, almost like how red Burgundy/pinot noir and salmon often delight.
