My wine friends (especially Barry) will kill me if I spend a month drinking modest wines for their "novelty values", so I thought I'd throw them a bone with this Southern Rhône treat...While Gigondas may be a source of inexpensive alternatives to nearby Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the 2001 Domaine Santa Duc Prestige des Hautes Garrigues certainly exceeds the prices for many CDPs. This wine creeps up on you: simple violet and prunes at first, flowering over the evening, adding precious scents of dark berry fruit, coffee grounds, leather and damp forest undergrowth, some liquorice - curiously port-like later on. Dry, crisp cherry fruit on the palate - very flavourful and not the bruiser that you might expect from the nose (or that 15% alcohol!). The tannins are a bit rugged, but were tamed by oxygen and should be housebroken after a few more years in the cave. A Rhône blend of Grenache (80%), Mourvèdre (15%), Syrah (3%) and Cinsault.
cork. 15% alcohol
Score: 18/20
Price: C$58 (SAQ)
Posts
2 comments:
Joe..the 'lesser' wines of the Rhône are really wonderful....but unfortunately the growers are beginning to realise it....Chateauneuf-du-Pape will have to watch it's back...they are losing the race at the moment.
This Gogondas sounds perfect...hope you finished the bottle yourself....sounds like it should do...constantly revealing it's attractions..rather like Britney Spears without the edges
Hi Barry - I have only dabbled outside of CDP and generic CDR, so this was a treat. I have been buying St-J and Cornas as well, but they're not ready yet...I've never noticed any edges on Britney...
Post a Comment