Château de Saint Cosme Gigondas 2020
Château de Saint Cosme
Louis Barruol's family has tended this estate since 1490, and the 2020 vintage captures the exceptional warmth of the year without losing the herbal lift that defines Gigondas. This over-delivers against Châteauneuf-du-Pape bottles at twice the price. The patience to wait five more years will be handsomely rewarded.
Kit Aromas
Nose
Dark berry fruit leads, layered with violet, garrigue herbs, and a subtle meatiness. Cedar and cracked black pepper round out a nose that signals both power and place.
Palate
Dense and structured with concentrated blackcurrant and cherry fruit wrapped in fine, chalky tannins. A streak of mint and dried herbs adds freshness, while toasted oak provides a structural frame without dominating.
Finish
Long and savory, with cedar, berry, and a lingering violet perfume.
- Varietal
- Grenache
- Blend
- Grenache (dominant), Syrah, Mourvèdre
- Vineyards
- Multiple parcels across the Gigondas appellation, old vine Grenache on clay-limestone soils
- Alcohol
- 15%
- Organic / Biodynamic
- No
Food Pairing
Herb-crusted rack of lamb with olive tapenade
The Barruol family has worked the Dentelles de Montmirail slopes at Saint Cosme for fourteen generations, making wine on a Gallo-Roman site whose ancient stone vats still stand in the estate's cellar.
Be the first to comment.
Leave a comment
Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso San Lorenzo 2021
Tenuta delle Terre Nere
Marc de Grazia's Terre Nere estate produces some of Etna's most expressive contrada wines, and San Lorenzo is a standout: old Nerello Mascalese vines rooted in ancient lava flows deliver a wine of rare transparency. This is not fruit-driven in the obvious sense — it is terroir speaking through fruit. Think Burgundy by way of a volcano.
Domaine de la Côte Pinot Noir Sola Tierra 2021
Domaine de la Côte
Rajat Parr and Sashi Moorman's Sola Tierra block sits on diatomaceous earth soils that produce some of the most transparent Pinot Noir in California. This is a wine of direction rather than power — it knows exactly where it's going and arrives with grace. If you're still looking for California Pinot that can stand alongside Burgundy Premier Cru, start here.
Château Pibran Pauillac 2019
Château Pibran
Château Pibran punches well above its price in the 2019 vintage. Owned by AXA Millésimes (who also own Pichon Baron), it benefits from the same meticulous attention and top-tier terroir. The tension between ripe fruit generosity and classic Pauillac austerity makes it both immediately enjoyable and cellaring-worthy.
Luciano Sandrone Barbera d'Alba 2021
Luciano Sandrone
Sandrone's Barbera is always a masterclass in restraint and fruit purity. The 2021 vintage delivered ideal conditions in Piedmont, and this wine captures the variety's defining bright acidity alongside ripe, generous fruit. It over-performs for Barbera d'Alba — the kind of bottle that reminds you why this grape deserves a permanent place at the table, not just as Barolo's understudy.