Gigondas - Red

The Domaine des Bosquets is one of the historic estates of Gigondas. Founded in 1644 by Noble Jean deRivière, the first vines to grow at “Le Lieu Dit...” were planted in 1376. Since that time, the estate stayed in a family for several centuries. Totally restored by Gabriel Meffre, this is now Julien Bréchet who imposes his vision and drive the estate plot by plot, in order to reveal always more the fantastic different soils and micro- climates of this estate.

Surface/location/soil/grape: Le Lieu Dit... is a selection of 1,8 hectare, planted of old Grenache on sands on a fresh North oriented plot. The exposure is less important than the rest of the vineyard, and this conspires to create a unique style of freshness and finesse. The geological particularity of Le Lieu Dit... gives the wines a hallmark style that is silky, elegant, fresh and very “Burgundy style”.

Climate: Sheltered from the Mistral wind, the estate’ 100,000 vines mature slowly in a jewel of greenery. Thewinters are usually cold and summers hot. During summer, days are hot, and thanks to the altitude, nights are fresh: the grapes can then mature slowly and get an optimal phenolic maturity, and more complexity. The very few rains are dried by a strong Mistral and a good sunshine.

The Vintage 2016: One of the top vintages, 2016 is a good sum up of the structure and the concentration of 2005 and 2010, the richness of 2007 and 2015, and the balance of 2006 and 2012. Early from the spring to the crop, the vintage was marked by low yields on Grenache, and very high concentration but in the meantime, a beautiful freshness. We obtained, thanks to that, fine maturities and perfect balance. Le Lieu Dit is realeased pure since 2009 and is always the finest wine of the estate. The concentrated vintages are dedicated to that wine. And thanks to the experience we accumulate each year, we can consider that the best vintage of thosewines is always the next...

Blend : OLD GRENACHE 100%

Production : Yield: about 16 Hl/Ha - 3 500 bottles 75 CL & 120 Magnums – Alc: 16,5 %

Vinification : The grapes were 100% handpicked and very carefully sorted out. Mainly destemmed (70%) and crushed, the grapes enter the winery with the valuable help of the gravity. This plot is vinified separately,thanks to the new “plot selection workshop” created by Julien Bréchet. The vatting period last 30 days with

three periods: cold fermentation with pumping over – alcoholic fermentation at +/- 28°C with a mix of delestages (beginning) and pumping-overs (end) depending of the profile of the tank – Maceration/Infusion with lees brewing and short pumping overs. End of the malolactic fermentation around Mid-November in Demi-muids.

Ageing : 18 months in old Demi-muids 600L, then blending in concrete until the bottling. Thanks to this maturing of 2 winters, the wines are naturally clarified and keep a lot of elegance.