1995 Dom. Santa Duc Gigondas Haut Garrigues – A friend helped me move a bunch of cases out of a corner of the cellar so the plumber could get at a leaking pipe. The friend is primarily a Rhone lover and as luck would have it, most of the wine in that corner was Rhone, so it seemed a natural to pop a cork
The nose had some underbrush and violets, and above all (or rather under all, I suppose) an abundance of dark ripe fruit). There were also notes of vanilla.
Excellent structure, with lots of soft tannins - we discussed the levels and figure that one iota harder and the wine would still need some age, but these were just at the edge of being firm but friendly.
It also showed exceptional length, but the dominant characteristic of this wine is the wonderful sweet fruit in the middle. No rush at all, but now heading into prime time.
