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Producer | Vidal–Fleury Gigondas |
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Country | France |
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Region | Southern Rhône |
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Subregion | Gigondas |
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Varietal | 75% Grenache, 15% Syrah, 10% Mourvedre |
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Vintage | 2018 |
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Sku | 30844 |
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Size | 750ml |
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Rated 90 Points by Jeb Dunnuck
Outstanding, the 2018 Gigondas is based on 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah, and the rest Mourvèdre, brought up all in foudre. It has attractive red and black fruits as well as ample spicy, floral, and incense-driven aromatics. Medium-bodied on the palate, it’s balanced, has ripe, polished tannins, and outstanding length. It will evolve for a decade.
Vidal–Fleury Gigondas 2018
Blend: 75% Grenache, 15% Syrah, 10% Mourvedre
Alcohol: 15%
Winemaker Notes
Vidal-Fleury Gigondas is a deep red in color with a nose of ripe dark fruit. Full on the palate with layers of blackberry, cherry, prune and violet. On the palate grenache driven, fatness, unctuous structured with tannin, cherry and pepper.
The elaboration of Vidal-Fleury’s wines consists of four separate operations – the vineyard, winemaking, ageing and bottling. The superb origins of the grapes and the patience taken in maturing are what make the quality of Vidal-Fleury wines according to Winemaker Guy Sarton du Jonchay.
Terroir
Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre grapes are grown on the gentle slopes of Dentelles de Montmirail. Soils are made up primarily of stone, calcareous clay and sand. Vineyard elevations between 150-500 meters.
Vinification
Grapes are hand harvested and transported to the winery in small crates. Fermentation occurs with indigenous yeasts in temperature controlled tanks with the maceration period lasting approximately 14 days. The wine is aged on its lees first in tank for 3 months followed by an additional 9 months in large oak casks. The finished wine is very lightly filtered (cross flow) and not fined. The wines rest in bottle for a minimum of 3 months prior to release.
Gigondas Wine
Gigondas is a village in the southern Rhône valley and an appellation for red and rosé wines. Both are made from up to 80 percent Grenache (according to the appellation laws), with at least 15 percent comprised of Syrah and Mourvèdre. Any Gigondas wine may have a maximum of 10 percent of any variety sanctioned by the standard red Côtes du Rhône appellation laws, with the exception of Carignan.
The resulting style of wine made under the appellation is often likened to that of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, just 17 kilometers (10 miles) to the southwest. Red wines are typically bold, forward, ripe and relatively high in alcohol – in fact, the appellation laws require a minimum alcohol level of 12.5 percent, one of the highest stipulated for French red wine. The best examples can certainly match many bottlings from its more famous neighbor.
The quality measures taken in the creation of Gigondas' wines include the mandatory selection of healthy grapes over imperfect grapes, known in French as triage. Maximum yield is set at 36 hectoliters per hectare, only 1hl more than Châteauneuf-du-Pape (385 vs 374 US gallons per acre).
The appellation occupies an area covering the base and slopes of the first Dentelles de Montmirail foothills. The villages of Beaumes-de-Venise and Vacqueyras are located to the south and west of Gigondas respectively and enjoy very similar growing conditions. The terroir here is characterized by a hot, dry Mediterranean climate and by the combination of limestone soils (on the Montmirail slopes to the east) and rocky, sandy, free-draining soils (on the flatter, lower-lying land to the north and west).
Vidal-Fleury
Founded in 1781, Vidal-Fleury is the Rhône Valley’s oldest continuing grower/négociant firm. Thomas Jefferson’s visit in 1787 was its first contact with the United States; he called the wines “justly celebrated”.
During the 1890s, Gustave Vidal married a daughter of the Fleury family. Thanks to her dowry, they replanted the vineyard following the phylloxera outbreak. Then, in the 1920s, the House took an interest in other wine-growing regions throughout the Rhône Valley.
In 1984, Ets. Guigal acquired the company. This step was a logical continuation for the Vidal-Fleury and Guigal families, who had always worked together. Indeed, Etienne Guigal (Marcel’s father) was hired as a vine-grower and cellar master by Joseph Vidal-Fleury in 1924. When the Vidal-Fleury family decided to sell the House, as none of its heirs felt like taking over the reins, it naturally turned to the Guigal family. As result, the company remains family run. Vidal-Fleury is managed in absolute independence with its own winemaking, logistics and commercial team.
In 2006 Vidal-Fleury began investing to modernize its winery facilities, installing state-of-the-art technology; in 2008, it built a new cellar specifically dedicated to maturing the wines. In addition, Vidal-Fleury’s vineyards are overseen with 100% self-sustaining management practices.
Long considered one of the most respected producers in the Rhône Valley, Vidal-Fleury carries on under the watchful management of Head Winemaker Guy Sarton du Jonchay.
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