Tales from the Wine Trail
Tasting Notes - Domaine du Terme, Gigondas - July 2008
Our third stop of the day on July 4 was with Anne-Marie Gaudin and her family at Gigondas. We reviewed recent and upcoming vintages -- including three of very 'fresh' wines. Quality at Terme continues to impress as these wines set standard for excellence for wine at the table.
She reported an excellent vintage in 2007 (unlike many part of France, the Rhône was spared the Atlantic storms). She also pointed out that 2008 will have 13 lunar months and that this often results in a poor harvest. Certainly, Alsace and Burgundy have both had poor and/or mixed conditions for flowering, and even in the Rhone, the grape bunches we saw are very mixed in size and ripeness. Very selective sorting will be needed to produce quality wines.
Gigondas Rose 07 - candied fruit nose, follows on palate with bright fruits, big and sweetish, very good length.
Cotes du Rhone 05 - lovely spice and red/black fruits on the nose, fairly full-bodied, classic Terme showing its Grenache, very good length. (in stock)
Cotes du Rhone 06 - (2 days in bottle) more fruiton the nose, still nice spice, good sweet fruit, very good length -- still a bit raw.
Vaqueryas 05 - excellent fruit + spice on nose, very full and rich on palate, excellent structure and very good length (in stock)
Vaqueryas 06 - not bottled yet, some 'vat' on nose, lovely rich fruit on palate, elegant, very good length.
Gigondas 04 - elegant nose of black cherries, bit closed, lovely big mouth of dark fruits, balanced + refined, very good length. (in transit)
Gigondas Réserve 04 - mourvedre on nose, needs decanting, elegant and rich on palate, some tannins, bright finish, very good length, need time. (2003 in stock)
Gigondas 05 - slightly closed nose, excellent concentration, tannins hiding fruit but very good length.
Gigondas Réserve 07 - from cuve - dark colour, 'pencil lead' nose, active on palate, rounding to sweet, very concentrated, very good length - will be excellent.