2014 and 2013 Gigondas: Wines to Drink, Not Hold

Fans of approachable southern Rhône red wines will find plenty to like from the 2014 vintage in Gigondas, wines that resemble the elegant 2008s and 2004s. Those two earlier vintages, which were widely overlooked by buyers in a rush to snag the hyped 2003s, 2005s 2007s and 2009s that bookended them, have emerged in recent years as exemplars of the southern Rhône in a minor key. I’m betting that the 2014s will also initially be overlooked because of what’s shaping up to be overheated pursuit of the 2015s. In most cases, the 2015s had not completed their malolactic fermentations when I visited the region in late February, but expectations are high.

Grenache thrives in the southern sector of Gigondas, which is dominated by sandy loam soil

2014: Approach with Caution

As was the case throughout the southern Rhône, 2014 was a year that demanded a lot of selection. Rain in September triggered botrytis in many vineyards. Growers also found it necessary to cull out grapes, particularly Grenache, that never ripened fully due to the cool summer. “It isn’t a vintage of power,” Thierry Faravel of Domaine La Bouïssière told me, “and it was also a winemaker’s vintage owing to the selection, sorting and declassification that had to be made.” It’s worth adding that in 2014 the quality of terroir was critical, with well-aerated hillside plantings generally favored—much more so than in vintages like 2010 and 2009 and, it appears, 2015—when high-quality fruit could be grown pretty much everywhere. Conscientious farming and the willingness and wherewithal to eliminate all but the best grapes through the growing season, at harvest and again at the sorting table, were also essential for quality in 2014. It should go without saying that this is a vintage that should be approached carefully.