2017 Gigondas L'Argnee

A big step up over the La Gille releases, the 2017 Gigondas L’Argnée Vieilles Vignes offers sensational notes of camphor, kirsch, blackcurrants, violets, and bouquet garni. Medium to full-bodied, structured, and concentrated, it has plenty of tannins as well as sensational balance. In addition to the Château de Beaucastel releases, the Perrin family also releases a bevy of brilliant wines under their Famille Perrin label. Certainly, the Gigondas releases are the standouts, yet readers shouldn’t miss their Vinsobres releases; the flagship Les Hauts De Julien possibly one of the finest Syrahs dominated blend made in the southern Rhône!

There are a whopping two demi-muids of the stellar 2017 Gigondas L'Argnee Vieilles Vignes in the pipeline, so readers will have to be on their toes to grab a bottle or two. Made from the same pre-Phylloxera parcel of Grenache, it's incredibly intense this vintage, boasting enough purple raspberries, black cherries and Asian spices to send me almost into sensory overload. Yet for all the flavor, this full-bodied wine is velvety-silky in feel, with a long, elegant finish.