Juice 2018 Les Deux Albion, Domaine de Saint Cosme, Principauté d'Orange, Rhône Valley, FRA
Grape 40% Viognier, 20% Marsanne, 30% Picpoul , 4% Clairette, 3% Ugni Blanc, 3% Bourboulenc
Farming Certified Organic, Vegan
Tasting Note Fresh aromas of white peach, mango and rose usher in a balanced, saline palate. The palate is rich and full with notes of flint, dried apricot, marshmallow, violet, dried apricot and mint.
In our humble opinion, Louis Barruol is one of the great producers of the Southern Rhône and when one talks of the appellations in and around Gigondas he quite simply has no peer. He is an absolute master at crafting terroir-specific wines which take the term ‘sense of place’ to a whole new level. He is a puritan of the highest order, a scholar and a gentleman all wrapped into one and the quality of his wines speak volumes about the quality of the man himself.
The sheer layered complexity of this wine is astonishing. Louis is constantly pushing the boundaries of this extremely calcareous soil. From one year to the next he harvests earlier to retain the freshness and because as he puts it ‘this is the way quality is pushing us’. Excessive ripeness in southern Rhône Valley whites is the main pitfall that needs to be avoided and this wine walks a tightrope (without any safety net) of weight, richness, texture and freshness and delivers every time. It is as good if not better than many of the whites from its more prestigious neighbour (Chateauneuf-du-Pape) at a fraction of the price. Louis Barruol, take a bow!
This wine is so damn complex and layered that we are tempted to say f*@k the food just have a liquid meal and savour every mouthful as it really is a meal in a glass. However if one were particularly ravenous and insisted on a delicious dish to accompany this oh so delicious wine then we would be inclined to serve it up with a the local speciality of Guinea Fowl (La Pintadeau de la Drôme) which is normally baked with local wild mushrooms and is such a damn fine game bird that it received protected certification in 1969. You could substitute the above bird with chicken if you want to be lazy. Regardless we’d recommend massaging said bird with plenty of butter and stuffing herbs under its skin or just jamming a bunch of mixed herbs up its bum so as to match the herbaceous nuances in the wine.
