2016 Domaine Gassier Nostre Pais Costieres de Nimes Rouge 750 ml

Jeb Dunnuck has called Nostre Païs “a Châteauneuf-du-Pape look-alike” and called the 2016 “a no-brainer purchase." A warm, ripe Southern Rhône red that Wine Enthusiast definitively summarized in its article, “A Golden Era for French Red Wines," this is a must-have red.

Robert  M. Parker Jr. himself agreed, referring to Domaine Gassier’s “fascinating wines [that] almost defy belief given their realistic pricing.” The 92-point 2016 is an $18 Southern Rhône rouge that would fool even the most seasoned taster into thinking it’s a Gigondas, Vacqueyras, or indeed a Châteauneuf-du-Pape worth 3X the price. 

Full, seamless, and thrillingly pure, this deep ruby red opens into dried cherry, macerated blackberry, bramble, wild lavender, smoke, cracked pepper, and a hint of leather on the nose. Not a bad start for a supposed value wine. 

We’ve loved Domaine Gassier for years, after a chance trip to their Costières de Nîmes outpost changed the way we think about the Southern Rhône: Our guide through Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s stony, white terroir insisted that we leave the marquee region and explore some of the valley’s lesser-known appellations. Our former colleague, Jeff, had vociferously resisted, arguing that our palates had been too spoiled all day to appreciate any other wines. 

Overruled, Jeff slept for most of the 50-minute drive to Costières de Nîmes. When we got out of the car, the same Mistral wind we’d been bracing against all day hit us hard. Even those of us who hadn’t napped rubbed our eyes at what we saw, but only Jeff voiced what we were thinking: “I thought we were leaving Châteauneuf-du-Pape?” 

Sure enough, Domaine Gassier’s vineyards are marked by nearly identical gentle grades of ancient craggy vines and galets roulés—the unmistakable large rounded stones left by ancient glaciers—which are the distinguishing feature Châteauneuf-du-Pape's prized terroir.

And the wines mirror their Châteauneuf-du-Pape neighbors in the glass as well, combining the Rhône valley’s signature power, and rustic red-fruit-meets-earth profile on the palate. It’s made Costières de Nîmes one of our go-to bargain recommendations in general, and Domaine Gassier specifically. 

We especially love historic vintages like 2016 in the Southern Rhône, where “lesser” appellations have an unrivaled ability to resemble their more expensive counterparts from ultra-premium zip codes. 

This 2016 Nostre Païs will clearly go on to evolve beautifully for nearly a decade—a grand example of how old-vine Grenache-based wines from this supremely underestimated region can rival the best of the Southern Rhône. All of its aromatic complexity alludes to an even more impressive wine on the palate: bold, powerful, and loaded with ripe blackberry and loganberry flavors, the dense muscularity of the palate finds balance in fine-grained tannins. 

That afternoon vigneron Michel Gassier led us around, amused by our awe of his terrain. Tall and soft-spoken, with graying hair and the firm handshake of a working man, he explained to us in impeccable English (his wife is American) how he's made it his life’s mission to prove that his soils can produce wine that’s just as awe-inspiring as those from the Rhône’s benchmark sub-zones.

After his old vines produce their ultra-concentrated elixir, Michel spares no expense in the cellar either, aging the Nostre Païs for twelve months in French oak, mostly on its lees, producing a wine of such tremendous similarity to its $50+ peers that its $18 price is nothing short of absurd. 

We’ll let Dunnuck take us home: “Enough can’t be said about the quality coming from Michel Gassier’s own label… these wines consistently punch well above their price point and I buy my fair share every year.” 

We highly recommend you do the same.