Rating:

Product Description:

"The Pesquier Gigondas is the standard-bearer of the domaine. Three-quarters of their vineyard holdings are in some of the most prized sub-regions of the appellation including nearly 8 acres in the Dentelle Mountains, considered the best area for Gigondas grapes where the soils are a stony, red clay.

The wine is a blend of Grenache 75% and Syrah 20% with 5% Mourvedre. The grapes are harvested by hand and then undergo a long, gentle vinification with indigenous yeasts: after the grapes are slightly crushed (they now leave one cuve of whole clusters) they undergo a 3 day cold soak; the alcoholic fermentation, at a relatively cool 85 degrees, lasts 4 weeks during which the wines go through a process called delestage. Delestage replaces remontage for a better yet gentler extraction. The juice is emptied from the cuve while the dry marc warms up, as it continues to ferment, and polyphénols are set free. The juice is then replaced from above. Like making Italian coffee the juice infuses the must. This long process builds greater complexity in the wines and rounds out the tannins.

The wines are then moved to cement vats for about 6 months where they undergo malolactic fermentation. Finally the wines are left to rest in large casks (foudres) for 12 months to age and are then bottled unfined and unfiltered, just before harvest.

The Domaine Pesquier Gigondas sports a beautiful ruby colour, dark and deep. This traditionally structured wine reveals itself slowly but steadily, first displaying red fruits and then notes of garrigue followed by cocoa and licorice root. The aromas are rich and layered, the palate is intense and silky, with a big body and finely-knit tannins. This Gigondas represents the very best of bold, classic southern Rhone red wines. " -Importer