Producer Profile
Chateau de Saint Cosme
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The talented Louis Barruol is the 14th generation of his family to make wine at Saint Cosme which is found to the north of the village of Gigondas, in the southern Rhône. Lying on the site of a Gallo-Roman villa, it is the most ancient estate in the region with the remains of a Roman cellar still visible in the property’s caves. Barroul’s ancestors acquired it in 1570 and built a splendid residence over existing cellars.
Louis Barruol himself took over in 1992 and immediately embarked on an ambitious modernisation programme with very clear ideas about the type of wine he wanted to make. He has since emerged as one of the Rhône’s most talented winemakers winning tremendous acclaim for his estate Gigondas wines in particular which are exceptional. For several vintages he has made The Society’s Exhibition Gigondas, a splendidly full-bodied rich fruitcake of a wine with dense fruit and powerful flavour.
Barruol also started the tradition in 1997 of buying in grapes from other select growers enabling him to produce a vast and impressive array of wines for the Saint-Cosme portfolio, from entry-level upwards.
These connections give him access to some exceptional parcels in the Northern Rhône, where he makes small volumes of Côte-Rôtie, Saint-Joseph and Condrieu.
Regional Note
Southern Rhône (excluding Chateauneuf)
Producing over 3.5m hl (hectolitres), this is the second biggest region for production of appellation contrôlée wine in France after Bordeaux. Most is red, though production of both white and pink is growing. Some 20 grape varieties are planted in the south though one in particular, Grenache, gives the region as a whole its identity: generosity, body, weight and a definite tendency to making big wines. More than half of the production is of Côtes-du-Rhône with the best sold as Côtes-du-Rhône Villages. Better still are the so-called crus led by Châteauneuf-du-Pape itself.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape: This large area to the north of Avignon makes the best wines of the south. Reds tend to be grenache based with syrah, mourvèdre and counoise also used. Few wines combine immense strength with perfect elegance quite so convincingly. Word of caution: Châteauneuf produces as much wine as the whole of the northern Rhône put together. A third is very good, a third acceptable and the last third, undrinkable.
Right bank: Villages include Tavel (rosé only) Lirac, Saint-Gervais and Laudun. There is more rain here but it is also hot and grapes are therefore early ripening. Most of the area lies in the département of the Gard and stretches from the river westwards towards Nîmes where at some ill-defined line in the soil, the Rhône becomes the Languedoc. This is an area that has much improved over the years and has become a valuable source for very fine, concentrated syrah wines in particular.
A little further on are the Costieres de Nimes, a large area of upland plateau, south-east of Nîmes. For the moment the Costières produces good everyday wines of good quality but there is potential to do much more.
Northern hills: There are fresh sub-alpine breezes at work here and as a result the wines often have a distinct freshness too. Just north of Orange is the largely wooded and isolated Massif d'Uchaux. Many of its star producers here are able to farm organically.
The three 'Vs' : Valréas, Visan and Vinsobres: These are three top neighbouring villages (with a 4th, Saint-Maurice broadly similar to Vinsobres). Vinsobres has full cru status and makes superb wine. Best names include Perrin, now the largest land owner and Domaine Jaume whose wines have been charming members since the 1979 vintage.
Valréas and Visan are planted on the same hill but tend to look north. Emmanuel Bouchard is one of the top names in Valréas. Adrien Fabre makes both outstanding examples of both Visan and Saint-Maurice.
Tricastin/Grignan-lès-Adhémar - The Tricastin is a much neglected part of the Rhône and coming down from the northern Rhône, these are the first vines one sees. It's a relatively cool area, far too cold for growing mourvèdre successfully, but the whites do very well and so does the syrah grape. The area has seen a name change as Tricastin is also the name of a power station on the river. The new name for the wines (which doesn't exactly trip off the tongue), is Grignan-lès-Adhémar.
Central hills - This includes the villages of Cairanne and Rasteau along with neighbouring Roaix. Big full-bodied wines, grenache dominated. Rasteau is all power and might while Cairanne is more deicate.
Plan de Dieu - Large flat expanse of pudding stones that seem to stretch as far as the eye can see, in the middle of which there is an airfield, (largely built for the Luftwaffe) surrounded by vines. Full-bodied style. Excellent for mourvèdre. Jaboulet are very good here as is the Meffre family.
Eastern fringes - Set against an iconic landscape with Mont Ventoux and the craggy Dentelles de Montmirail as the backdrop, some of these hillsides were first planted by the Romans and include some of the best-known names in the Rhône Valley.
Gigondas: Mountain wine, late harvested, always dramatic and very full-bodied though never coarse or overweight. These are generous reds, capable of long ageing. A little rosé is also made.
Vacqueyras: Next door to Gigondas yet different. Fruitier, a shade less powerful and more obviously charming:
Beaumes de Venise: The red is as full as Gigondas but rounder and less complex and this village is better known for its sweet muscat, a vin doux naturel and perfect for desserts.
Ventoux: At nearly 2000m this is some mountain which scores of cyclists are forced to conquer every year in the Tour de France. Its lower slopes are vineyard country though. Traditionally these were known as Côtes du Ventoux and were made and sold cheaply. Things are changing though with more estates cutting yields and making full and concentrated wine, not dissimilar to and better value than many Châteauneufs.
Vintage Note
Rhône Vintage 2011
2011 was the third vintage in a row with its own style and character. The wines are generously flavoured, ripe tasting and with exceptionally smooth tannins. Cool summer temperatures helped, and the wines have sap and, as many growers put it, ‘belle frâicheur’.
The weather was remarkable in that it started and ended with a heatwave punctuated by a cold and wet July in the middle. What had looked like being an early vintage, following an early and abundant flowering, ended up later than most recent vintages, but that extra time on the vine has resulted in extra concentration and depth of flavour. Clear skies and the Mistral wind meant a harvest of healthy grapes in ideal conditions. Patience had been needed as there was uneven ripening of some varieties.
Northern Rhône
The syrah grape made beautifully balanced wines in 2011. Soft, rounded tannins underpin a core of ripe fruit. The wines are sensuous, sleek and pure. Hermitage has real depth and majesty, as does Cornas. Côte-Rôtie and Crozes are more variable but top producers made remarkable wines. Saint-Joseph was uniformally gorgeous, especially at the southern end.
Southern Rhône
What a vintage! Sometimes surpassing 2010 with wines that have more warmth, and soft, sweet and spicy flavours that we crave. The northern band of villages, which includes Vinsobres, Valréas and Uchaux, is outstanding and the wines perfectly balanced, and the same is true for west-bank villages like Lirac and Laudun. For the central belt of villages that includes everything from Cairanne to Gigondas, 2011 is fine, sometimes brilliant vintage of very full-bodied wines. Patience was a particular virtue for growers here, and the late harvesting Gigondas growers had a very good vintage indeed. Also, mourvédre deserves a special mention as it performed so beautifully in 2011. Châteauneuf blends that included a significant portion of mourvédre were magnificent.
Picked earlier, the whites benefited hugely from the cold snap of July and early August. The wines were lithe, fine and classy with each variety clearly defined.