2010 Gigondas Vieilles Vignes

Tasted as a barrel sample and absolutely spectacular, the 2010 Famille Perrin Gigondas Vieilles Vignes is a blend of 100% Grenache, from 100-year-old vines, that’s aged in a combination of barrel and demi-muid. It possesses soaring aromatics of black cherry, raspberry, lavender, licorice, and hints of graphite, as well as a full-bodied, beautifully concentrated, and seamless palate. This knockout Gigondas has juicy acidity, incredibly purity, and masses of finely polished tannin that emerge on the finish. Count me impressed and this is a serious Gigondas that will require 2-3 years of bottle age on release, and will shine for 12-15 years minimum.

Glass-staining ruby. Aromas of fresh red berries, rose and lavender, with an exotic touch of Asian spices emerging with air. Juicy and precise, offering sweet raspberry and cherry flavors and slow-mounting anise and white pepper notes. The bright finish features very good clarity and lingering sweetness.

The 2010 Gigondas La Gille has to take a backseat to the 2010 Gigondas Vieilles Vignes, which has an opaque purple color and a stunning nose of blackberry, black raspberry, asphalt, spring flowers and wet rocks. The minerality jumps from the glass in this full-bodied, powerfully built and beautifully pure Gigondas. ||(Not yet released)||As I said last year, the Perrin family is a large one indeed, with brothers Jean-Pierre and Francois sitting at the top of the hierarchy and their four sons, Mathieu, Pierre, Thomas and Marc increasingly taking charge of their negociant business and their extensive estates throughout Southern Rhone. Now controlling over 1200 acres, as well as having a network of contracts, this operation is the equivalent of a major Southern Rhone train operating at high speed. Moreover, they are doing some incredible work in all price ranges. Other 2011s that the Perrin boys have produced include the following wines, which were very good across the board, especially for 2011s. In particular, readers need to take a hard look at their estate in Vinsobres, which is making the finest wines of that appellation, and more recently, what they are doing in Gigondas with the estate they purchased there, Clos des Tourelles. These are special wines. There are now three cuvees of Gigondas from the Perrins - the Gigondas La Gille, the Gigondas Vieilles Vignes and the Gigondas Clos des Tourelles. All three merit serious attention. Tasting the 2010s, which were all set to go into bottle right after my visit, certainly shows that this vintage is impressive, although I'm not sure that Marc and Pierre Perrin haven't done as good a job with their selections in 2011. Three cuvees of Gigondas look to all have outstanding potential and will probably be in bottle by the time this report is published. Wine Advocate.October, 2012