Domaine de Cabasse Juncunditas Gigondas 2017

The 2017 Domaine de Cabasse Juncunditas Gigondas is a delicious full-bodied Gigondas that is both sensual and complex. A blend of 70% Grenache, 15% Mourvèdre, and 15% Syrah, this exceptional Gigondas highlights the beauty of the 2017 vintage throughout the Southern Rhône. Black cherry, wild berry, and hints of fennel waft from the glass. Lush and soft upon entering the mouth, the 2017 Juncunditas Gigondas expands in the mouth, spreading its beautiful ripe fruit, subtle dark chocolate tones, and silky tannins like a peacock’s tail across the palate. Sensual, savory, and superbly textured, Domaine de Cabasse’s knockout 2017 Juncunditas Gigondas is hard to resist. Plush and long, yet finely balanced, one could hardly imagine a finer poster child for the appellation than Domaine de Cabasse’s 2017 Juncunditas Gigondas. For optimal enjoyment, we suggest at least 15-20 minutes of aeration before serving at cool room temperature (60°-62° F).

It has been said that there is no better wine on a cold winter’s night than Gigondas. The strength and vigor of Gigondas rests in its warm rich flavors and stout body rather than in a hard tannic bite for which most of us are thankful, not only in winter but all year long. The 2017 Domaine de Cabasse Juncunditas Gigondas provides the ideal companion to all types of meat, pasta and vegetable dishes. Whether it is served with red meat, white meat, flavorful stews, heady pastas, or rich lentil or bean dishes, the 2017 Juncunditas Gigondas brings a hearty welcome to the table in winter and summer. In Gigondas and throughout the Rhône Valley, a roast leg of lamb, rubbed with fresh garlic, rosemary and thyme provides the quintessential accompaniment to the 2017 Juncunditas Gigondas, while spicy lamb sliders provide an easy contemporary alternative to leg of lamb. Spit roasted rotisserie chicken basted with cream and Provençal herbs, and lentil and sausage soup served with crusty bread and flavorful cheese offer additional tasty pairings to accompany Domaine de Cabasse’s bold, beautiful Gigondas. Cassoulet, Italian sausage and peppers, and Steak au Poivre provide other delicious accompaniments to this wine. Creamy Piedmontese risottos, spicy eggplant dishes, and most tomato laden classics from southern Italy also make fine accompaniments to Domaine de Cabasses’s sensual Gigondas. Bon appétit!

Domaine de Cabasse holds a special place for my family and me. We first discovered Domaine de Cabasse a quarter of a century ago on a wine buying trip to the South of France. With 15 rooms and a delightful country kitchen that served superb traditional Provençal fare, Domaine de Cabasse provided the ideal base for visiting nearby Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas while discovering some of the finest Côtes-du-Rhônes on the planet growing just a cicada’s song away from our rooms.

Under the dazzling Provençal sun and surrounded by a sea of undulating vines that flow from the hills below the picture perfect hill town of Séguret, officially one of the most beautiful villages in France, we thought we had discovered Shangri-La. There was only one hitch. We could only enjoy the domaine’s wines on the spot, as the proprietor, Monsieur Haeni, was not exporting his wines to the United States. Apparently, only those fortunate enough to stay at Domaine de Cabasse and the small steady flow of Dutch, German and Swiss wine lovers who loaded their vehicles once a year with the domaine’s liquid booty were the principal recipients of Domaine de Cabasse’s captivating Gigondas and Côtes-du-Rhônes. We returned some years later to the same song: “Enjoy our wines here,” and of course we did.

Fortunately, patience and persistence often pay dividends. On a recent trip to the Southern Rhône, we again opted to stay at our old haunt and were delighted to discover that the domaine’s wines were not only better than we had remembered, the gregarious new proprietor, Benoit Baudry, consented to sell us some of his delightful wines, including his highly touted Juncunditas Gigondas (this month’s feature) from a vintage that is shaping up to be another pearl in the Southern Rhône’s greatest string of consecutive vintages. Domaine de Cabasse also fashions several exceptional Côtes-du-Rhônes, including a delicious village designated Séguret Côtes-du-Rhône and a tasty rosé that goes down far too easily. Wine production is sustainable and carried out under the careful eye and deft hand of Philippe Cambie, the Rhône Valley’s most renowned oenologist. After a quarter of a century, we are thrilled to be able to share Domaine de Cabasse’s wines with our members.

Gigondas and the neighboring Provençal villages of Vacqueyras and Châteauneuf-du-Pape produce the finest red wines of the Southern Rhône. Relying upon old vines of Grenache, married to lesser quantities of Syrah, Mourvèdre, and Cinsault, Gigondas turns out a startling array of big, beautiful, tasty reds from nearly 2,500 acres of vineyards. Spanning a combination of soils, from the gravelly clay of the flat plains at the base of the craggy Dentelles de Montmirail to the sheer bedrock of the Dentelles themselves, Gigondas is testament to the belief that in this enchanted corner of Provence known as the Vaucluse one can even extract blood from stones in the form of a vigorous, deeply colored red wine. The high altitude and distinctive terroir of Gigondas provide the ingredients for serious Gigondas producers to challenge Châteauneuf-du-Pape as the finest wine of the Southern Rhône.