Domaine La Garrigue Cotes du Rhone Cuvee Romaine 2020

Domaine de la Garrigue is one of the oldest estates in the Southern Rhone Valley. The estate is owned by the Bernard family who also own the famous ‘Les Florets’ Restaurant and Inn. If you ever find yourself frolocking through wine country in Gigondas– find this place. There’s nothing like it. There, on the hillside facing the Dentelles, is the 3-star B&B home to some of the best views, and the most riveting bottles being made anywhere in Gigondas.

It was there that Eric Solomon first approached the Bernard family and told them that their Reds would go crazy in the American market. Intrigued, the Bernard family gave Solomon permission to create his own cuvee that he could sell exclusively in the states. Needless to say, he made it count.

There in the Southern Rhone, with similar soil as the famed terroir of Chateaneuf-du-Pape and massive rocks naturally sprinkled throughout the vineyards called gallets. Planted on top of these giant rocks are old-bush vines, first planted generations ago. In fact, wine made in this area has long been considered the holy grail, with the juice coming off these low-yielding vines so concentrated and pure – almost sacred, that the Romans used to make wine here centuries ago and ship it carefully stored, hundreds of miles away back to Italy!

Domaine de la Garrigue makes some of the finest Gigondas in the region– but today I’ll let you in on a little secret. The Cuvee Romaine is de-classified Vacqueyras, labeled simply as Cotes du Rhone. The reasoning is simple: bottled as a Cotes du Rhone, there are no requirements for time spent in a bottle prior to release, allowing the winery to create a wine made to be enjoyed in its youth, that comes roaring and ready to get after spending a few months in concrete time in concrete, allowing for its true stripes and loudest expression to come forward. It’s a fantastic wine.