Chateau de Saint Cosme Domaine de Saint Cosme Les Deux Albion Blanc 2017
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Spectator
Wine -
Suckling
James
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The wine is balanced, ethereal and the aroma is quite sophisticated. It displays a real backbone and salinity, with flavors and aromas of flint, dried apricot, marshmallow and violet.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A plump, fun-filled wine overflowing with yellow apple, apricot, melon and star fruit flavors. A light bitter almond note keeps this just focused enough through the finish. A crowd-pleaser. Viognier, Marsanne and Picpoul.
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James Suckling
An array of ripe, sweet, peach, banana and melon character here. Sweetly perfumed and bright. Good weight on the palate with density and depth. Some pastry-like richness into the finish.
Other Vintages
2021-
Spectator
Wine
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Dunnuck
Jeb
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Parker
Robert -
Dunnuck
Jeb
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Spectator
Wine
Chateau de Saint Cosme is the leading estate of Gigondas and produces the appellation’s benchmark wines. Wine has been produced on the site of Saint Cosme since Roman times, evident by the ancient Gallo-Roman vats carved into the limestone below the chateau. The property has been in the hands of Louis Barruol’s family since 1570. Henri and Claude Barruol took over in 1957 and gradually moved Saint Cosme away from the bulk wine business. Henri was one of the first in the region to work organically beginning in the 1970s. Louis Barruol took over from his father in 1992, making a dramatic shift to quality, adding a négociant arm to the business in 1997, and converting to biodynamics in 2010.
Full-bodied and flavorful, white Rhône blends originate from France’s Rhône Valley. Today these blends are also becoming popular in other regions. Typically some combination of Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier form the basis of a white Rhône blend with varying degrees of flexibility depending on the exact appellation. Somm Secret—In the Northern Rhône, blends of Marsanne and Roussanne are common but the south retains more variety. Marsanne, Roussanne as well as Bourboulenc, Clairette, Picpoul and Ugni Blanc are typical.
Typically thought of as a baby Chateâuneuf-du-Pape, the term Côtes du Rhône actually doesn’t merely apply to the flatter outskirts of the major southern Rhône appellations, it also includes the fringes of well-respected northern Rhône appellations. White wines can be produced under the appellation name, but very little is actually made.
The region offers some of the best values in France and even some first-rate and age-worthy reds. Red wine varieties include most of the Chateâuneuf-du-Pape varieties like Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsault, and Counoise, as well as Carignan. White grapes grown include Grenache blanc, Roussanne and Viognier, among others.