Gigondas!

The bent of the blog has become decidedly French. That is my taste, but also I feel the wines I am choosing represent an expression of the grapes, the style, and the land from which they arise. These are old world styles, not new world fruit bombs which have such an expression of fruit that their subtlety and and nuances are lost; there is balance in these wines from which we can learn regardless of our tastes. Foods and wines are learning experiences and an opportunity to discover: wine games. Thus the missive ends and the review begins. The comments are based upon a bottle opened last evening.

The wine tonight is a retasting of Pierre Amadieu Gigondas 2007 "Romane Machotte" which was opened last evening and stood up to a spicy Thai meal. The producer is based in Gigondas, but has offerings sourced elsewhere in the Southern Rhone. We have tasted many of these and find them uniformly pleasing.

This wine is a dark ruby to purple in color without any brick at the edge of the glass; it remains young.

The nose initially has sweet blackberries and black cherries, which progresses to hints of vanilla, herbs (thyme, rosemarie), and earthiness; with time it exudes a sensation of dried fruit confit- fig and prune.

The mouth has a wonderful minerality with supple tannins. The tannins softened overnight but remained prominent and well balanced.

The finish is well balanced with a nice acidity. In the nose one gets the dried fruits and tar.

I assume the terroir of this wine is limestone gravel. The blend is 80% grenache and 20% syrah. I have driven past both the Machotte and the Romane vineyards.

I have tasted the 2006 vintage of this wine as well as the Vacqueyras from 2006 and 2007. The 2006 had more harsh tannin. This does seem to soften with age but the overall wine is not as elegant as the 2007. I generally find Vacqueyras to be more rustic than Gigondas and this seems true with the Pierre Amadieu wines. The full portfolio can be found at their web site: www.pierre-amadieu.com.

I enjoyed this wine and would strongly recommend it. Although I think it has the potential to age for 5 to 10 years, it certainly is enjoyable now. I would recommend the 2007 over the 2006 if one has a choice (I suspect a case of 2007 will find its way to my cellar, some for now and at least half for later). The best on-line price I could find was $17.99. I got mine in the Pa shop for $19.99; there is a Perrin et Fils offering at the same price and I preferred the 2007 Amadieu. This is an excellent wine and worth a try, it is a great learning experience.

As a disclaimer, I love the wines from this region. Nothing in this post is to discredit any producer or village. My comments relative to Gigondas and Vacqueyras are simply my sensory way of distinguishing their wines- I like both equally as is evidenced by my cellar.

HAVE LUNCH AT LES FLORETS IN GIGONDAS!!! Order the Domaine du Garrigue, experiment with the year.