This wine gets its exceptional aromas from vines spanning less than 1 hectare, with nearly 100 years in age.
Presentation
The vintage
This 2017 vintage will be remembered as the year of all records: the driest year in 30 years, non-interventionist vineyard work, optimal harvest conditions, a very small yield due to climatic hazards, and wines with very rich potential.
Location
Located at the South-Western end of the Appellation, at the heart of the historical village of Gigondas.
Terroir
Sandy soils.
Ageing
The crop is manually harvested. Upon arrival in the cellars, the grapes are sorted and vatted in 50hl oak barrels. Unlike Syrah, Grenache is destemmed. After maceration, fermentation begins. The extraction and the temperatures are controlled according to daily tastings. We work the wines by punching down or pumping over. After racking, the wines are aged for a year and a half in oak Foudres.
Varietals
Grenache
Syrah
Syrah
Advice
Serving
15°C in big wine glasses.
Match: Veal with Girolles mushrooms, Beef stew.
Match: Veal with Girolles mushrooms, Beef stew.
Tasting
The 2017 vintage, made from 100% Grenache already has a complex nose (black fruit, smoky notes and sweet spices) and a rich and powerful mouth, with silky and delicate tannins. The finish is long, balanced, with a nice freshness and slightly candied fruit.
Reviews
"Pure grenache from 1ha of pre-phylloxera vines on sandy soil. No new oak used. it’s a deep, vinous, intense and spicy wine that’s really drinkable, chiselled and intense. A deep acid line runs through the ample, ripe tannins. this will age well. So long and impressive; it’s a cuvée that deserves to be better known. "
"A big step up over the La Gille releases, the 2017 Gigondas L’Argnée Vieilles Vignes offers sensational notes of camphor, kirsch, blackcurrants, violets, and bouquet garni. Medium to full-bodied, structured, and concentrated, it has plenty of tannins as well as sensational balance."
"There are a whopping two demi-muids of the stellar 2017 Gigondas L'Argnee Vieilles Vignes in the pipeline, so readers will have to be on their toes to grab a bottle or two. Made from the same pre-Phylloxera parcel of Grenache, it's incredibly intense this vintage, boasting enough purple raspberries, black cherries and Asian spices to send me almost into sensory overload. Yet for all the flavor, this full-bodied wine is velvety-silky in feel, with a long, elegant finish."
""Opaque ruby. Highly expressive aromas of mineral-tinged red berries, incense and licorice candy, along with a suave floral nuance that builds as the wine opens up. Appealingly sweet and seamless on the palate, offering penetrating raspberry, cherry, spicecake and candied lavender flavors that are braced by a spine of juicy acidity. Finishes silky, sweet and impressively long, with gentle tannins and lingering floral pastille and exotic spice notes.""
