Description

Domaine Saint Damien 2015 Gigondas Les Souteyrades
80% Grenache, 20% Mourvedre| Alc: 15.0% – Big, Smooth and Supple
Rhone Valley, France

Winemaker’s notes:
Saint Damien was an early Christian saint martyred in the year 287 A.D. There is a chapel to his honor in the tiny hamlet of La Baumette, just outside the village of Gigondas, where Joel Saurel lives. M. Saurel’s ancestors thus took the name Saint Damien for the domaine. The domaine’s claim to fame are their superb Gigondas cuvees.
Les Souteyrades is one Joel’s best parcels, particularly in hot years, making a true vin de garde Gigondas, with great weight and power, as well as majestic structure. The blend is 80% Grenache and 20% Mourvedre, from 60-70 year old vines.

Critical Acclaim:
“Like the La Louisiane, the 2015 Gigondas les Souteyrades spent a year in foudres prior to bottling. It a similar blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Mourvèdre, but grown on north-facing gray clays. There’s more pepper and herb here, still wonderfully ripe raspberries but less chocolate. Full-bodied, it’s still silky and refined, with tremendous length on the finish. At Domaine Saint Damien, there are four Gigondas cuvées, although the Clovis Saurel isn’t bottled every year. It’s a small, family domaine with the magnificently mustachioed Joël Saurel at the helm, although son Romain is increasingly confident in the winery. This is a reference point for traditional Gigondas, but the family also owns a small portion of Côtes du Rhône Villages Plan de Dieu. We finished up with a handful of older wines, which I noted for readers who may have cellared them.” 94 Pts – The Wine Advocate

“The most opulent and voluptuous of the 2015s, the 2015 Gigondas Les Souteyrades is heavenly juice that, again, drinks well past its humble price point. Just loaded with notions of strawberries, framboise, spring flowers, dried orange peels and spice, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a thick, unctuous texture, sweet tannin and a great, great finish. This cuvee is the normal 80/20 split of Grenache and Mourvèdre, aged all in foudre, and there’s just 750 cases made.” 97 Pts – Jeb Dunnuck

Love Châteauneuf-du-Pape but not the price, try this beauty! Like any big wine this will benefit from aeration or a year or three in the cellar.

Organic!

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