Domaine Saint Damien Gigondas Blanc Les Prés 2024
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The Land
Until recently there was no such thing as white Gigondas. The appellation covered red and rosé only, and any white grown here had to be sold as Côtes du Rhône. INAO voted unanimously in September 2022 to extend the appellation to whites beginning with the 2023 harvest, requiring a minimum of 70% Clairette. This is one of the newest appellations in France and almost nobody outside the Rhône knows it exists. Les Prés comes from two lieux-dits, La Louisianne and La Moutte, both on the plateau near the estate rather than up in the steep limestone scree of the Dentelles de Montmirail. The plateau is cooler and flatter, which is exactly what Clairette needs: a grape that ripens fast and loses acid faster does not belong on a hot slope.
The Wine
100% Clairette, well above the 70% the appellation requires. Clairette has a reputation as a blending grape because it oxidizes readily and finishes low in acid, and the way to make it work as a single variety is to pick early, handle it reductively, and keep it away from wood. Done properly it produces something no other southern Rhône white does: white peach, green apple, fennel, chalk, and a bitter almond finish, medium-bodied and satiny rather than sharp, with an aromatic lift on the close. 2024 was a small, hard-won vintage in the southern Rhône. A rainy winter and spring drove heavy mildew pressure and Grenache suffered badly from coulure, though Gigondas fared better than most of its neighbors thanks to less rain and more wind.
The People
The Saurel family has farmed vines around Gigondas since 1821, but for most of that time sold fruit rather than bottling it. Joël Saurel changed that in 1996, resuming estate production, and brought in the consulting oenologist Philippe Cambie in 1998. His son Romain now runs the winemaking. The estate has been certified organic since 2012. Saint Damien built its reputation on old-vine Grenache from the Dentelles, and the decision to put serious effort into a white in the appellation's first legal vintages says something about how the family reads where Gigondas is heading.
Food Pairing
The satin texture and gentle bitterness make this good with Provençal cooking specifically. Grilled sea bass with fennel and olive oil, brandade de morue, a tapenade and goat cheese board, or roast chicken with lemon and herbes de Provence. The wine has enough body to handle garlic and olive oil, and the bitter almond finish meets anise and fennel head-on. Serve it around 50 degrees and drink it young; Clairette is not built for the cellar.
We ship wine to most states with a $100 minimum order for shipping. We don't ship spirits nor beer.
Weather shipping advisory: Orders placed during times of extreme heat or extreme cold will be held for no charge until more favorable weather returns.
The Rhône Valley is a diverse and historic wine region, divided into two distinct areas. The Northern Rhône is the birthplace of Syrah, with steep, terraced vineyards that produce some of the world's most revered wines, such as those from Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie. The Southern Rhône is much more expansive, offering a wider range of styles, but typically based around Grenache-based blends, with wines from Châteauneuf-du-Pape known for their complexity and power. While the region is celebrated for its reds, it also produces incredible textured whites, and as a whole the region displays the spectrum of French wine and the incredible differences that can come from small geographic changes.
