2012 Gigondas, La Bastide Saint Vincent, Rhône
Critics reviews
Covering 55 acres, with roughly 18 of the acres in Gigondas, La Bastide Saint Vincent is run by Guy Daniel and his son Laurent. They produce two Gigondas cuvees in top vintages; a classic cuvee that’s a blend of 75% Grenache, 15% Mourvedre and 10% Syrah that’s aged all in concrete tank; and the Gigondas Costevieille (which wasn’t presented in either 2011 or ’12), which is a blend of 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah, sourced from the best plots, that’s aged in Burgundy barrels.
Jeb Dunnuck - Wine Advocate #210, Dec 2013
Jancis Robinson MW, jancisrobsinson.com - Jan 2014
About this WINE
La Bastide St. Vincent
Flanking the evocatively named Dentelles de Montmirail, with vines on the equally evocative Plateau des Garrigues, La Bastide St Vincent is a delightful, family-owned wine domaine with 17th-century origins.
Laurent Daniel works 26 hectares across six villages and 23 parcels, growing the famous trio of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. He vinifies them separately in a combination of cement and stainless steel. He keeps the temperatures relatively low to allow full and generous expression of the fruit flavours.
Laurent’s wines are often powerful with a typicity and alcohol level that you might expect from the Southern Rhône. In 2021, however, the wines have a different appeal with freshness dominating. The resulting wines have lower alcohol yet still with good concentration and beautiful balance. We really enjoyed his 2021s. They are rather lovely wines allowing the minerality of his soils to shine through. Sadly, his production was 50% down this vintage, so secure a case while you can.
Gigondas
Gigondas has been renowned for the quality of its wines since Roman times, although it was not really until it was classified as a Côtes du Rhône Villages in 1966 that it began to realise its potential. It achieved AC status in 1971 and today produces some of the finest, most underrated and under-priced wines in the Rhône valley; although, for the last two of these at least, probably not for much longer.
Gigondas' 1,200-hectare of rugged vineyards are located east of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, beneath the famous mountains of Dentelles de Montmirail. Gigondas produces sumptuous, plummy reds with a good structure and a sprinkle of pepper. It is similar to (if a touch less slick than) good Châteauneuf-du-Pape which, at its best, it can challenge and even surpass.
Made with a maximum of 80 percent Grenache, combined with at least 15 percent Syrah and/or Mourvèdre, the rest can be made of any of the varieties authorized for Côtes du Rhône – apart from Carignan. The wines can normally be broached after two to three years, while the best repay ageing for 10 years or more. The region also produces dry, Grenache-dominated rosés which are good but can sometimes lack a little vitality.
Recommended Producer: La Bastide St Vincent, Domaine Montirius
Southern Rhône Blend
The vast majority of wines from the Southern Rhône are blends. There are 5 main black varieties, although others are used and the most famous wine of the region, Châteauneuf du Pape, can be made from as many as 13 different varieties. Grenache is the most important grape in the southern Rhône - it contributes alcohol, warmth and gentle juicy fruit and is an ideal base wine in the blend. Plantings of Syrah in the southern Rhône have risen dramatically in the last decade and it is an increasingly important component in blends. It rarely attains the heights that it does in the North but adds colour, backbone, tannins and soft ripe fruit to the blend.
The much-maligned Carignan has been on the retreat recently but is still included in many blends - the best old vines can add colour, body and spicy fruits. Cinsault is also backtracking but, if yields are restricted, can produce moderately well-coloured wines adding pleasant-light fruit to red and rosé blends. Finally, Mourvèdre, a grape from Bandol on the Mediterranean coast, has recently become an increasingly significant component of Southern Rhône blends - it often struggles to ripen fully but can add acidity, ripe spicy berry fruits and hints of tobacco to blends.
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Description
Located at 350-400 metres, the Gigondas vines are located in soils of crushed limestone and grey-brown clay, its wines correspondingly denser and richer than the Vacqueyras. Aromatics of gunpowder and jambon cru are followed by a finely textured palate, its intimations of dark chocolate indulgence held in check by dextrous acidity and very fine tannins.
Simon Field MW, Rhône Wine Buyer
La Bastide St Vincent has had a terrific couple of years, so much so that these two exemplary wines are now on allocation. Such is the price of success, I suppose. When we introduced the domaine to the UK nearly a decade ago, we had an extensive blind tasting of some of the great and the good from these two famous villages. Laurent’s wines excelled then, and continue to do so now.
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