2016 Gigondas La Colline
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Tasting notes
The 2016 Gigondas La Colline (100% Grenache from a tiny corner of the La Colline vineyard) gives a big blast of blackberry and kirsch fruit to go with complex garrigue, toasted spice, and dried earth. This full-bodied beauty packs an incredible amount of richness and depth into a seamless, silky, elegant, thrilling package. It's going to benefit from 1-2 years of bottle age and knock your socks off over the following decade or more.
Critic scores
Average Score
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
Rich, full-bodied and velvety, the 2016 Gigondas La Colline is marked by its elevated ripeness, but it carries the warmth, plum and chocolate notes well, adding hints of dried spices and fine leather. It stays vibrant and crisp, almost salty and zesty on the long, intense finish. Tasted twice, with consistent notes.
Lurid ruby-red. An expansive, highly perfumed bouquet evokes ripe red fruits, incense, candied flowers and smoky minerals, and a sexy Asian spice nuance builds in the glass. Sweet and penetrating, offering lucid raspberry liqueur, cherry and spicecake flavors that show outstanding depth as well as energy. Refuses to let go of the palate on the subtly tannic finish, which hangs on with superb focus, building sweetness and noteworthy tenacity.
100% Grenache. Strong oak influence on the nose, and the palate is pinned down by strong tannin. Impressive and intense, but less pleasurable for immediate drinking than their generic blend. There is clearly some outstandingly pure fruit here, though, and loads of concentration. (RH)