2015 Gigondas Les Racines

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.

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.

The 2015 Gigondas les Racines looks to be slightly superior to the Terrasses du Diable at this point and has a more minerality, dark fruit and garrigue in a medium to full-bodied, concentrated, even backwards style. It has depth and length, and will benefit from a few years in bottle. Oct 2016, www.robertparker.com