Sunday, April 11, 2010

Domaine de Font-Sane Gigondas, 1998

I was a bit disappointed with this Gigondas last April and not quite sure whether it needed additional aging or was already past its prime. This bottle convinces me that the wine has turned the corner and is ready for drinking.

The color is still a deep, dark ruby, and the bouquet is everything you expect from a Gigondas--pretty red berry/floral qualities plus a powerful whiff of dark cherries and Gigondas minerals. The cherry flavors fill out across the palate with a bit of firmness in the middle that may be either fruit tannin or alcohol. Either way, the wine is the none the worse for it; when that firm quality is gone, the wine will have lost some of the power that is characteristic of Gigondas. This 1998 Font-Sane is not as charming as the 2006 Perrin I had last week in Santa Fe nor as complex as the 1998 Tourade I had a few weeks ago. But it's a very good Gigondas with a few more years to show its stuff.

Font-Sane has a more expensive cuvee, aged in new oak, that I have tried only once or twice but never purchased.

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