Cut from the same cloth, the 2015 Gigondas Racines offers darker fruits, as well as more minerality, yet is slightly closed and needs 2-3 years of bottle age. Garrigue, black cherries, currants, scorched earth, and licorice all flow to a full-bodied Gigondas that has ripe tannin and terrific length. It’s a classic beauty well worth your time and money.

Brilliant ruby. Explosive dark berry preserve, incense and lavender scents, along with hints of allspice and dusty minerals. Sweet and focused on the palate, offering concentrated boysenberry, spicecake and floral pastille flavors that smoothly blend depth and vivacity. Closes on a gently tannic note, showing strong persistence, excellent clarity and a lingering floral quality.

I preferred the Domaine Les Pallieres 2015 Gigondas Les Racines, which comes from 75-year-old vines (80% Grenache) at lower elevation. There's a sassafras-like spice note to this wine, along with ripe cherries and hints of clove and allspice. Like the Terrasse de Diable, it's full-bodied and silky in texture, but the Racines seems to carry its alcohol better. Both of these Gigondas are matured exclusively in 60-hectoliter foudres, so there's no obvious oak influence.

Owned by the Brunier family of Domaine de Vieux Telegraphe and American importer Kermit Lynch, this estate is one of the standard-bearers in Gigondas. The two cuvées, Terrasse de Diable and Les Racines, are standouts in the appellation. Élevage is strictly in foudres, allowing the differences in vine age and site to shine through clearly.