Chateau de Saint Cosme, Gigondas 2020, Gigondas, Rhône Valley, France

Producer

Without doubt one of the very best producers in France, let alone the Southern Rhone, with winemaker Louis Barruol crafting terroir-specific wines

Chateau de Saint Cosme, nestled in the southern Rhone appellation of Gigondas, sings of history. With its average of 60-year-old vines, over 500 years of Barruol family ownership, and 14th generation winemaker Louis Barruol at the helm, you cannot dispute their establishment.

Louis makes a range of wines, influenced by biodynamic principles. From fantastic bang for your buck Cotes du Rhone (look for plenty of forest fruits and a graphitey nose), to the serious, bold and complex Gigondas single plots, there’s something for every palate.

For the latter of these wines, Louis prides himself on the diversity of their geology that results in the three distinctive plots. Le Poste (limestone and sand soils, littered with fossils) produces the most refined wines from the estate. Le Claux, (limestone, clay and small gravels) creates the most “Burgundian Gigondas” with elegance and complexity. By contrast, the deepest and most powerful wines from the estate come from the Hominis Fides terroir (sandy and limestone soils) resulting in texture and refined tannins.

Not stopping at Rhone, Louis’ passion for terroir took him to New York, where he grows Pinot Noir and Riesling in the Finger Lakes.