Report from France part 4 - Gigondas

Sept 19

Dom. Du Terme (Gigondas)

2009 Sablet Blanc – a viognier/roussanne with a nice floral nose, clean and dry on palate.

2008 Cotes de Rhone – a good basic wine with lighter colour and a pleasant freshness (we were looking for something like this for cooking)

2008 Vacqueyras – yum. Spicy chewy full of fruit, delightful.

2006 Gigondas – 80/G + some syrah. Fragrant and tasty, lots of soft tannin, more weight than the CduR.

2005 Gigondas Reserve – GSM blend. Nice aromatic nose with spice. Harder tannins. Had second bottle with far better nose than first.

Dom. Brusset (Gigondas)

One of the larger Gigondas producers, making some of the most age worthy wines in this area.

2009 Cotes du Rhone Villages Cairanne Les Travers blanc – lemony nose, pale yellow colour nice nose very pleasant.

2009 Cotes du Rhone Villages Cairanne Les Clavelles – mellow apple and butter nose, and crisp finish. Made from Viognier.

2009 Gigondas Grand Murailles – very nice nose, fair tannins smooth, a very presentable wine!

2008 Gigondas Grand Murailles – leaner wine that I liked much less, though the nose was not bad.

2008 Gigondas Les Hautes de Montmiral – purple with a nice oak, berry and spice nose, drinks well now but had the tannin for ageing.

2000 Domaine Brusset Cotes du Rhône Villages Cairanne Cuvée Hommage a Andre Brusset – nice mature nose with meaty notes here, and in the mouth developed and smooth.

2007 Mont Olivet CNduP – medium weight wine that I wasn’t really attracted to.

Grenache Vin Doux Natural - 16% decent wine without too much RS and an alluring nose.

Muscat Beaumes de Venise – lovely nose but too sweet for my taste.

[David M. Bueker]

Interesting, especially since Mont Olivet is one of my favorite producers of Chateauneuf du Pape.

Mont Olivet is one of my favorite Chateauneuf-du-Pape producers, too.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Not sure why the Mont Olivet didn't show well, guys, but Coop and I agree with Bill about the wine. It just didn't show particularly well for whatever reason (bottle was previously opened, maybe it was in a sophomore/Day Two slump?)

Some additional comments:

We purchased the du Terme Sablet blanc and it showed much better at home than it did in the tasting room. Hay colored and richer on the palate than it's 6Euro price tag would lead you to expect, and nicely different in that most of the whites here have been lemony and this wine was not, it was more like the red apple juice I had this morning. Also, of the two Brusset whites, the first white wasn't as interesting at home as it had seemed at the winery, but the viognier was quite fetching with lovely aromatics absent the heavy old lady perfume that dogs this grape in most U.S. versions.

My favorites of the wines mentioned in this post: the Vacqueyras and Sablet Blanc from du Terme, and the Viognier, 09 Grands and 08 Les Hauts from Brusset. Oh, I was also quite taken with the marc from Brusset, which I bought a bottle of to take home.

SPEAKING OF WHICH: does anyone know of any place in Provence to buy styro shipping containers for bringing wine home as luggage? We were unwilling to spend the $50 for extra luggage it would have cost us to bring an empty carton over, but that may have been el biggo mistako. So far, when we've asked locally, no one has any idea what we're asking about. But surely someone, somewhere here, has them?

[David M. Bueker]

Perhaps not Jenise. The green revolution in Europe has pretty much wiped them out.

Any reports on the recent weather? There was rumor of heavy rains a little while ago, but none of Bill's posts really mention it.

We've had at most some minor sprinkling, and a couple of clear days. Today is overcast. Visits to St Cosme and Raspail and Boussieres - notes later.

does anyone know of any place in Provence to buy styro shipping containers for bringing wine home as luggage?

You might try some of the larger wineries, especially in CDP (e.g., Janasse, Brunier). There are a couple of wine stores in CDP that ship wine fairly regularly, I think, so you might want to try there as well (right on the main drag, just up from the visitor centre).

If you go to Avignon - and you should! - that's the biggest city in the area, and there are probably wine stores there as well that might carry them. Carpentras is probably too small a town, but definitely go to their market day - I think it's Wednesday, but I'm not positive of that.

I can't believe you didn't bring an extra bag, as you can bring in as much wine as you want in the US! Maybe another option is simply to buy another cheap bag, and some foam, bubble wrap and/or other packing material?

Now that bottles can't come as carry-on, you have to be careful about packing so you don't get crushed cases and leaking smashed bottles! I usually just get some duct tape and wrap bottles with clothing and leave them in the suitcases. But then bringing in only 4-6 isn't as much of a problem as for US returnees.

[Jenise]

does anyone know of any place in Provence to buy styro shipping containers for bringing wine home as luggage?

You might try some of the larger wineries, especially in CDP (e.g., Janasse, Brunier). There are a couple of wine stores in CDP that ship wine fairly regularly, I think, so you might want to try there as well (right on the main drag, just up from the visitor centre).

If you go to Avignon - and you should! - that's the biggest city in the area, and there are probably wine stores there as well that might carry them. Carpentras is probably too small a town, but definitely go to their market day - I think it's Wednesday, but I'm not positive of that.

I can't believe you didn't bring an extra bag, as you can bring in as much wine as you want in the US! Maybe another option is simply to buy another cheap bag, and some foam, bubble wrap and/or other packing material?

John, we're only allowed one bag each or I'd have shipped an empty carton. Couldn't see spending $50 extra baggage for an empty. Full coming back, no problem. $100 for both ways could end up sounding like a good deal, though, if we don't find anythingn.

[David M. Bueker]

It's too late, but what I do is have a floppy/duffel type bag that I can stuff (empty) into my harder suitcase on the way over. I then wrap bottles in bubble & clothes & pack securely in the harder suitcase & toss overflow clothes into the duffel for the way back. There's still the bag fee coming back, but you don't have to worry about finding a shipper.

I am sure you cold buy a duffel & some bubble wrap.

John, we're only allowed one bag each..

This new airfare reality is crazy isn't it. I guess things never stay the same.