2010 Château Gigault Cuvée Viva

An impressively opulent wine for its price point, the 2010 exhibits notes of vanillin intermixed with spice box, licorice, Provencal herbs and loads of black cherry and black currant fruit. Hints of plum sauce and Asian soy are all present in this complex, deep, flashy and silky wine. It is meant for consumption over the next 3-4 years. Consistently one of my picks as an overachieving wine from an unheralded, less prestigious appellation, this wine is 100% Merlot from vines cropped at 25 hectoliters per hectare. Coming in at 14.5% natural alcohol, it is another wine made by the peripatetic Stephane Derenoncourt.