About this WINE
Domaine Gauby
The modern era for this excellent Côtes du Rousillon estate dates from 1985 when the energetic Gérard Gauby took over the family estate. Previously the wines were sold in bulk to the local co-operative, but Gérard took the brave decision to go it alone.
The domaine is situated in the village of Calce, in the Vin-de-Pays appellation of Coteaux des Fenouilledes. As the name of the village suggests, the soils in this area are predominantly chalky and are suitable for both red and white wines.
A number of grape varieties are planted at the domaine, the reds include Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Carignan, the whites are made from Marsanne, Grenache Blanc, Viognier and, unusually for this area, Chenin Blanc.
The wines are elegant and modern with great balance and concentration.
Other Varieties
There are over 200 different grape varieties used in modern wine making (from a total of over 1000). Most lesser known blends and varieties are traditional to specific parts of the world.
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Description
Gerald Gauby is, by some measure, the most influential producer in the Roussillon. Behind the prop forward bonhomie there is a serious thinker who has been working his land organically since 1990, and who has been treating his wines to a biodynamic philosophy for at least ten years. A few minutes in his company in the well-named village of Calce makes it clear that his commitment is both well-informed and heart-felt. His cellars offer a fascinating and natural geological cross-section of the terroir where one can clearly view blue Pyrenees clay, red sandstone grès and limestone, inter alia, juxtaposed in a stony mosaic of no little artistic merit.
There are some pre-phylloxera Carignan vines in this outstanding blend; the other components, Syrah and Grenache, being also venerable, with some vines over a hundred years of age. The complement has been repaid with extensive post-fermentation ageing, 27 months in the case of the 2009, half of which has been in new barrel, the other half in one-year old barrel.
After all that, it should not come as a great surprise that the wine is exceptionally complex; floral and seductive on the nose and then densely textured on the palate. But the cloth is fine and expensive and there is an ethereal, delicate red-berry character which re-emphasises Gerald’s aspiration to avoid anything approaching over-extraction.
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
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