Domaine des Bosquets Gigondas Réserve du Domaine 2017

From 2017, the "classique" will become a "Réserve du Domaine". Apart from the name, the selection also changes. There will be relatively more fruit from the parcellaires and above all: only fruit from the older vines will still be used, with wine from younger plantings to be sold under a different label. That this improves the quality is pretty obvious, and despite the drought and difficult flower setting in the Grenache, this 2017 is one of the finest Gigondas we have already tasted from this estate. It turned out to be a gorgeous, powerful, deeply fruity, creamy, nuanced wine that you can enjoy relatively young thanks to its nice balance and refined tannins. Julien Brechet surprises us year after year with absolutely stunning wines!

As interesting and instructive as Bosquet's parcellaires are, for us the Réserve" remains the wine to buy here, the real Gigondas and, moreover, a wine that delivers a lot of flavour for the money.

Decanter: “The original blend Domaine des Bosquets is now available in two cuvées: Font des Bosquets (young vines, shorter ageing, no oak) and this Réserve (older vines, 14 plots vinified separately including fruit from the top single-vineyard sites, maturation in different types of oak for 18 months). Silky tannins, deeply vinous fruit, long, shapely and tapered, with depth, fressness, seamless charachter. Drink 2026-2035 Alc 14,5%" 95/100

Vinous (Josh Raynolds): “Vivid ruby-red. Lively, expansive red berry, floral pastille and white pepper scents, along with suggestions of garrigue and smoky minerals. Sweet, focused and seamless in the mouth, offering juicy raspberry, spicecake and lavender flavors that deepen steadily on the back half. Clings with very good authority on the gently tannic finish and leaves succulent floral and herb notes behind.” 92/100

Wine Advocate (Joe Czerwinski): "Low Grenache yields make for an interesting blend in the 2017 Gigondas: 40% Grenache, 35% syrah, 20% Mourvèdre and 5% Cinsault. It certainly shows some smoky, herbal notes from the Syrah at this stage. Full-bodied and supple, it should prove to be an excellent wine.." (90-92)/100

Jeb Dunnuck: 93/100

Joe Czerwinski (Wine Advocate): "Proprietor Julien Brechet is redefining Gigondas through his exploration of selections parcellaires, which are essentially monovarietal. Le Lieu Dit and La Colline are Grenache, Le Plateau is Mourvèdre and Les Routes is Syrah. The blended cuvée remains an assemblage of four varieties and represents an outstanding value. Brechet is pleased with the quality he's been able to achieve the past few vintages but says he's always striving to do better. On this visit, he poured a couple of older vintages so we could look at his progress, saying that he felt he'd made mistakes at times in the past. Of the La Colline, Brechet says, "Before it was impressive, now it's expressive." One of the keys to the quality he was able to achieve in 2018, he says, was the use of destemming, which he now varies considerably from year to year (in 2017, he used as much as 30% whole clusters). Brechet considers 2018 to be a year that favored Grenache, comparing it to 2006 and 2012. That said, I remain impressed by his Les Routes (Syrah), which has become one of the Southern Rhône's greatest examples of that variety—worth noting is that the genetic material is a sélection massale from Fonsalette, which is said to originate from cuttings provided by the Chave family. Equally impressive is the Châteauneuf-du-Pape Brechet bottles from a tiny patch of 100-year-old vines farmed for him by his brother Laurent (Château de Vaudieu). "The signature of the estate is the finesse," Brechet says."