2011 Gigondas, La Bastide Saint Vincent, Rhône

Perfumed nose of marzipan and sweet liquorice. Seductive, svelte and soft on the palate, this is an absolutely moreish wine, very easy to drink and great alone or with white meat dishes.
Hamish Orr-Ewing, Private Account Manager

Crushed limestone soils, with alluvial fossils and loess make up the rather distinctive terroir surrounding the medieval village of Gigondas, long seem as the leader of the pack of villages that are no longer prepared to sit in the shadows of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The altitude of Gigondas is very much to its favour, especially as one tries to tame the worst excesses of high levels of alcohol. All somewhat paradoxical in a village famed for its heady and almost rustic wines. No so with this one; a blend of 75% Grenache, 15% Mourvèdre and 10% Syrah, the 2011 has attractive macerated plum and bouquet garni aromas and a pleasing shard of flinty acidity to underpin the concentrated dark fruit.
Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer

Grenache is a generous and indulgent variety; for Laurent Daniel in 2011 the main problem was to ensure that alcoholic and phenolic ripeness achieved some kind of coincidence, but without excessive levels of alcohol. The selection of the correct picking date is essential; only two things are worse than a cooked flavour in a wine and these are flavours which are green and flavours which attain the egregious distinction of being both cooked and green. Fortunately Laurent has avoided all the potential pit-falls and he describes 2011 as a stylistic marriage of 2007 and 2004.