Domaine La Bouissiere Gigondas 2020

Domaine La Bouissiere is the original high-altitude estate in Gigondas, and their 2020 bottling is one for the ages. Gorgeous, deep ruby color, not quite opaque. The nose is quite striking, and that traditional, savory style is on full display -- crushed peppercorn, hot rock and dried garrigue (rosemary, lavender, thyme) lead the charge. With air and swirling, the fruit comes out to play -- cherry, brambly raspberry, and blackberry are most prevalent. There's a buoyancy to this wine that so many Southern Rhones lack these days. The fruit is just-ripe -- not overripe, not jammy, not cloying. Fresh and energetic.

In the sultry south, altitude matters. Wines from Domaine la Bouïssiere hail from some of the highest vineyards in Gigondas, and thus are markedly more balanced, elegant and age-worthy than wines from the lowlands.

In the 1960s, Antonin Faravel began to carve his vineyards out of the crumbling stone cliffs of the Dentelles de Montmirail (pictured on the family’s wine labels). He knew that the cooler temperatures and rocky soils would produce perfectly ripe grapes, with better acidic balance and lower alcohol, too. While other winemakers quickly followed Antonin’s lead, Domaine la Bouïssiere without question is the original, high-altitude Gigondas.

Yet it certainly takes more than a mountain to make a world-class red. Antonin’s sons, winemakers Thierry and Giles Faravel, border on the fanatical when it comes to the health of their vines and grapes. Theirs are wines that are intimately tied to and faithfully reflect the rugged, sensual beauty of the Provençal landscape from which they’re born.

The Faravel brothers take great advantage of the vines their father planted high up in the Dentelles de Montmirail just after World War II. These cooler, elevated sites give us a classic Gigondas that emphasizes spice, mineral and savory complexity, much like the Gigondas from the days of yore. In the words of rising star importer Lyle Railsback, the wine is "deliciously stuck in time."

Harvest is performed by hand, and grapes are partially destemmed and lightly crushed, depending on the vintage. Fermentation takes place with indigenous yeasts in unlined cement tanks or stainless steel. Aged in a combination of tank, larger foudre and barrique. Bottled by gravity, unfined, unfiltered.