2016 Gigondas Hominis Fides

Louis Barruol’s outstanding collection of 2017s and 2016s makes the case, if it needed to be made by now, that his family’s domaine is among the Rhône Valley’s elite producers. The estate owns 15 hectares of vines, almost all of them extremely old (as in 100-plus years) in some of the most highly prized sections of the appellation. Barruol has also expanded, as of the 2018 vintage, Saint Cosme’s vineyard holdings with the acquisition of Château Rouanne in Vinsobres, at the extreme north of the southern Rhône area and an appellation that is renowned for the quality of its Syrah. Speaking of Syrah, Barruol’s négociant label, named Saint Cosme (no “Château” designation) is a superb source for northern Rhône wines from Côte-Rôtie, Crozes-Hermitage and Saint-Joseph.

Louis Barruol has been setting what is, in my opinion, the reference standard for the Gigondas appellation for the better part of two decades now. I’m hard pressed to recall a stronger set of wines than these 2016s. Barruol is one of the southern Rhône’s great authorities on the region’s history and current affairs, and he’s long on both opinions and experience, not to mention being disarmingly frank and eager for discussion. “This is a vintage that was a bit of a challenge early on,” he told me as we tasted through his 2016s. Flowering was difficult for the Grenache, which resulted in low yields, but after some up-and-down weather in the spring, things “turned perfect” through harvest, and he considers the year to be “at least as good as 2015 and perhaps better,” which is no small praise. Sharp-eyed readers will note that there is no Valbelle bottling in 2016, as 2015 was the last vintage for that bottling and now that juice is a component of the estate’s “basic” Gigondas.