After writing an article several months ago comparing Gigondas to Chateauneuf-du-Pape, we are thrilled to finally have this chance to offer a top wine from our very favorite Gigondas producer: Gour de Chaule.

Let’s back up for a moment and give you a quick reminder on the Gigondas story. It walks and talks like Chateauneuf-du-Pape, boasting Grenache-based blends laced with herbes de Provence, garrigue, lavender, and other signatures of the South of France. But it doesn’t have CdP’s heat-preserving giant pebbles (galets), and it has more limestone. The wines therefore don’t come across so power hungry. The wines of Gigondas, in short, are more elegant.

Gour de Chaule is a bastion of traditional wine-making in the AOC. Their history dates back to Great-Grandfather Eugene, who started the winery in 1900.

Wait, you must be saying, what’s with the history lesson? Who cares how old a winery is? Well, in this case, that date is important. The vines that Eugene planted back in 1900 still produce Grenache grapes. Today’s wine – “Cuvee Eugene” – is made entirely from them.

This particular wine comes from the 2016 harvest. It has since been aged at the winery until it was recently released. Today, it is a monument to powerful, but elegant, old vines Grenache. It explodes with Provencal purity. It satisfies your craving for complexity and depth, but also your simpler side that just wants a really good, really big wine.

Gour de Chaule Gigondas Cuvee Eugene 2016 $59.99