2017 Gigondas Terrasse du Diable

Also not yet bottled, the 2017 Gigondas Terrasses Du Diable is rocking stuff and has a mouthwatering sense of salinity and minerality as well as the classic kirsch, garrigue, and peppery aromas this cuvée always possesses. Medium to full-bodied, balanced, and nicely concentrated, with ripe tannins, it's going to keep for 15 years or more.

From a cool site at 300-400 meters above sea level, the 2017 Gigondas Terrasse du Diable is a blend of 85% Grenache and 15% Mourvèdre. It boasts knockout aromas of violets, garrigue and purple raspberries, with an undercurrent of black cherries. It's full-bodied and concentrated, with bright, crunchy acids. The overall impression is of a wine with sharper edges than the harmonious 2016 or 2018. Cellar it a couple of years and then enjoy it over the following decade.

Lots of violets and blue fruit with cinnamon and dark stony aromas. Baking spices, too. On the palate, there’s black fruit and an attractive, bitter-herb kick, with very dense tannins and a powerful, compressed feel. Lithe, juicy blue-fruit finish. Very focused, dense and long. Drink or hold.